UN Envoy Urges Sanctions For Rebel Over Congo Rapes

UN Envoy Urges Sanctions For Rebel Over Congo Rapes

A senior UN official has called on the organisation's Security Council committee to consider sanctions against a Rwandan Hutu rebel leader over the rape of hundreds of villagers in eastern Congo in August.

UN special representative for Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict, Margot Wallstrom, on Thursday, told the 15-nation Security Council that a man known as "Lieutenant Colonel Serafim" was among those believed to be responsible for the rape of over 300 people.

"I urge the (Security Council sanctions) committee to consider the inclusion of Lieutenant Colonel Serafim of the (Rwandan Hutu rebel) FDLR on its sanctions list," Wallstrom said.

She told the council members that this could be done on the basis of the credible information from the witnesses on the scene that he also commanded the mass rapes in Walikale.

Earlier this month, UN peacekeepers captured a rebel commander named only as "Colonel Mayele," whom they accused of being behind the rapes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

A U.N. report last month said Colonel Mayele led a coalition of militiamen that attacked the town of Luvungi on July 30 and held it until August 3, raping at least 303 people.

End to impunity for rape

Wallstrom said it was important for council members to "use all the means at their disposal" to end impunity for rape in Congo and elsewhere.

"The leverage we gain from the credible threat of council sanctions against perpetrators of sexual violence cannot be underestimated," she said.

The United Nations peacekeeping force MONUSCO, the world's largest UN peacekeeping mission, was criticized for failing to prevent the mass rapes, which took place just 20 miles (32 km) from a UN base.

Congo's eastern provinces are under siege by Rwandan Hutu FDLR insurgents and Mai Mai militia, who have lingered in the vast mineral-rich zone since Congo's 1998-2003 war.

REUTERS/Williams/Otoki