The estimated number of mass rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has increased to more than 240. UN peacekeepers have reportedly stepped up patrols in the region.

According to previous reports received by officials, more than 150 women, girls and children were raped in and around the town of Luvungi. Aid workers reported 200 gang-rape victims.

The UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO said it has now been told of more than 240 rapes around the town of Kibua in Nord Kivu province. It added that even the new figure was likely to increase as aid groups address more women in the region.

The UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO said in a statement it has launched ‘Operation Shop Window’. Peacekeepers have been sent to the villages where rapes were reported and extra helicopter patrols have been launched.

Mai Mai and FLDR
Rebels from the Mai Mai militia and Rwandan Hutu FLDR have been accused by the UN of carrying out the four-day mass rape between July 30 and August 3 in and around the town of Luvingi in North Kivu province.

MONUSCO, the largest UN peacekeeping force of 20,000 military personnel, has been heavily criticised by UN Security Council members for failing to prevent the rapes in DRC’s conflict-stricken eastern province. The peacekeepers were at a distance 30 kilometres from the scene when the mass rape took place.

U.N. peacekeepers said they only heard about the mass rape from aid agency International Medical Corps (IMC) a week afterwards, although they knew on the second day of the attack that the region had been occupied by rebels.

Outraged
Ban Ki Moon one week ago despatched Atul Khare, deputy head of the U.N. peacekeeping department, to Congo. He instructed Margot Wallstrom, special representative for sexual violence in conflict, to take charge of the U.N. “response and follow-up”, and urged the Congolese government to investigate the mass rape.

Khare is to report to Ban and the UN Security Council upon his return to New York next week.