Sexual violence against children in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been rising sharply in recent weeks, the United Nations Children's Fund said Thursday as a dispute in which land and mineral resources are fueled.
The organization, known as UNICEF, reports that health care facilities in Goma City and surrounding areas have recorded 170 cases of children raped in a week between January 27th and February 2nd. did.
Congo's UNICEF communications chief Leanne Gatcher reported 572 rape cases that week, compared to an average of 95 cases that week. She added that violence is being carried out by “armed men” who belong to all parties involved in the conflict.
The aid group Save the Children reported a similar trend among victimized children in Eastern Congo. The New York Times could not independently verify the numbers provided by UNICEF.
Rebels, said to be supported by Rwanda, are seizing huge areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at lightning speed. In a month they routed Congolese undetached forces several times, causing over half a million people to flee. In late January, rebels captured Goma, a Congolese city of 3 million along the Rwandan border.
The Rwandan president gave various answers to questions about whether his country is armed with rebels or whether his troops are in the Congo. He often denied it and sometimes seemed to admit it, saying he wasn't sure if his country's army was there recently.
The rebels known as the M23 say they are protecting the ethnic Tuttis, a minority group that was massacred in the 1994 Genocide. However, experts say the group is behind rare minerals in Congo.
“North and Southern Kivu provinces have received horrific reports of serious violations of children by the party of conflict, including rape and other forms of sexual violence that have exceeded recent views,” says Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF. He said in a statement.
She added that healthcare workers are running out of drugs used to reduce the risk of HIV infection after assault.
President Trump suspends aid and the intensity of USAID, the US government's leading foreign aid agency, puts the health of millions of people around the world at risk.
Save the Children said there is evidence that 18 girls in South Kivu province were sexually infringed and a 16-year-old girl was killed in resisting an armed man.
“One mother told staff that six youngest daughters, only 12 years old, were systematically raped by an armed man while searching for food,” she said. Ta.
The leaders of the rebel group vowed to bring order and security to the areas it controls.
Elian Peltier and Ruth Maclean contributed to the report.
