Militiamen rape 127 women in east DRC town

Kinshasa — Armed men raped 127 women earlier this month during a raid on a town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Thursday.At least 60 militiamen assaulted the women during a May 1 attack on the town of Kikamba in the province of South Kivu’s Shabunda region, MSF said in a statement. It did not identify the armed group responsible.

Dozens of armed groups operate in eastern DRC, where a 1998-2003 conflict killed millions of people, mostly from hunger and disease. Both state and rebel forces have been accused by rights groups of using rape as a weapon of war.

In November, Congolese army general Jerome Kakwavu became the highest ranking official convicted of rape by a military tribunal in DRC while a rebel commander in north-eastern DRC from 2003-2005. —AFP