Horrific scenes saw over 160 women raped and children left dead in a fire after the prison break at Munzenze near Goma last Monday came amid an offensive by M23 rebels backed by Rwanda
Over 160 women have been raped and children killed in fires after a prison break in war-torn DR Congo, the the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has said.
Thousands of inmates escaped the Munzenze prison near Goma last Monday after M23 rebels supported by Rwanda swept in as part of their offensive in the east of the country. Vivian van de Perre, deputy head of the UN peacekeeping force, told a special session in Geneva that “168 women were raped” amid the chaos, and a number of female inmates died along with their children after the wing housing them was set ablaze.
She said: “There was a major prison breakout of 4,000 escaped prisoners. A few hundred women were also in that prison. They were all raped and then they set fire to the women’s wing. They all died afterwards.”
Yesterday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued an urgent appeal to the rebels and their Rwandan military backers to “silence the guns” and stop the escalating fighting in the region. He told reporters: “It is time for mediation. It is time to end this crisis. It is time for peace.” The Secretary-General confirmed the UN had received “countless reports of human rights abuses”, including “sexual and gender-based violence, forced recruitment, and the disruption of lifesaving aid”.
The M23 rebels occupying the region are backed by 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to UN experts. They have emerged as the most powerful of more than 100 armed groups active in Congo’s east, which boasts large mineral resources critical to much of the world’s technology. Thousands of people have been displaced so far in the fighting.
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