Refugees in Congo are being shot, looted, raped

Published: Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008 12:17 a.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
GOMA, Congo — Shootings, looting and rape plague the already desperate lives of refugees in eastern Congo, where people caught between soldiers and rebels live in constant fear, U.N. officials said Friday.

Gunmen shot and killed a 20-year-old woman at a refugee camp in Kibati and forced families out of their huts before looting them, U.N. refugee agency spokesman William Spindler said.

He would not say which group the men might belong to, but soldiers fighting to put down the long-running rebellion are known to live among civilians at Kibati, near the front line.

"We fear that the civilian population, already in a dramatic and desperate humanitarian situation, could be caught in the crossfire should fighting resume in the area," Spindler told reporters in Geneva.

People live "in constant fear of looting, road blocks and forced labor," said Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"The security situation is still tense and very volatile," she added. "The looting continues."

So do rapes, which have become endemic in Congo. Byrs said 20 rapes were reported at a health center in Goma, the eastern provincial capital, between Nov. 12 and Nov. 18, but probably many more went unreported.

Story continues below

The U.N.'s peacekeeping force, numbering 17,000, has been unable to fulfill its primary mandate of protecting civilians in the region. The U.N. Security Council on Thursday approved sending 3,100 more soldiers and police to Congo.

But Congo and its small neighbor the Republic of Congo said 3,100 more is not enough, and France said the peacekeepers should be allowed to use force "in a proactive fashion."

"We believe that these 20,000 men will not be able to help ... (end) the disaster we are currently witnessing," Republic of Congo President Sassou Nguesso said in a joint statement after meeting with Congo's President Joseph Kabila.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said France was not alone in wanting to give the peacekeepers more robust rules of engagement, which govern the circumstances in which they can use force.

"They are very restricted as to how they can use their weapons," Chevallier said

Now the peacekeepers can fire only when fired upon, and only to defend civilians when they are under imminent threat; they also cannot shoot at armed troops without warning them or firing warning shots, said U.N. mission spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai.

U.N. military spokesman Col. Jean-Paul Dietrich on Friday welcomed the Security Council decision to send more troops and said he hoped the reinforcements "will come within the next few weeks."

Countries have not yet decided who will contribute. Several African nations such as Senegal, Kenya and Angola could send extra troops, diplomats at the Security Council said, speaking on condition of anonymity because talks are still under way.

Recent comments

This horrifies me. Why isn't more being done to help these people...

katie | Nov. 22, 2008 at 5:51 p.m.

How can one fight a political war? No rules should apply in wars....

SAD | Nov. 22, 2008 at 10:37 a.m.

Image
Jerome Delay, Associated Press

Internally displaced Congolese wait for food distribution in east Congo. Refugees are caught between rebels and soldiers.

previousnext

Latest comments

Didn't Obama and Biden just admit to the fact that the stimilus programs were...

The last part of the article about Cowherd is classic!!! I normally like the...

This man was my teacher in high school. He is my friend, he was like a father...

I like millsap, but portland just burried themselves. They made themselves...

It's amazing how quickly society is willing to vaccinate it's children with...

The first income tax was introduced during the Civil War, that's only 70...

If he really did what the evidence seems to show, I don't think he should be...

Utah needs Portland too much. It's much harder than you think to find good...

Restaurant destroyed by fire

stacy, have you ever eaten there ??

I had Brother Pratt at Viewmont High School my sophomore year... I was really...

Advertisements