Armed men in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo raped hundreds of children and recruited child soldiers at unprecedented levels, the U.N. children's fund said Thursday, as the conflict in the mineral-rich region intensified in recent weeks.
"In the North and South Kivu provinces, we are receiving horrific reports of grave violations against children by parties to the conflict, including rape and other forms of sexual violence at levels surpassing anything we have seen in recent years," UNICEF's Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.
"One mother recounted to our staff how her six daughters, the youngest just 12 years old, were systematically raped by armed men while searching for food," Russell added.
More than 100 armed groups are vying for control of Congo's mineral-rich east in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the world's largest humanitarian crises. The M23 rebels — the most prominent armed group in the region— captured Goma, the region's largest city, in late January in a major escalation of the yearslong fighting with government forces.
During the week of Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, health facilities in the restive region reported 572 rape cases, a more than fivefold increase compared to the previous week, Lianne Gutcher, Chief of Communications at UNICEF in the Democratic Republic of Congo, told The Associated Press. 170 of those treated were children, she added.
Armed men perpetrated the rapes but it was unclear what specific armed group or army they belonged to, Gutcher said. "It is suspected that all parties to the conflict committed sexual violence," she added.
Last week, the United Nations Human Rights Council launched a commission that will investigate the atrocities, including rapes and summary executions, committed by both Congo's army and M23 in eastern Congo since the beginning of the year.
On Monday, 84 Congolese soldiers accused of murder, rape and other crimes against civilians in the country's conflict-battered east were put on trial.
