GOMA, Congo — A leader of a Congolese rebel group suspected of commanding the rape of at least 303 civilians two months ago has been taken into custody, a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo said.
OMA, Congo — A leader of a Congolese rebel group suspected of commanding the rape of at least 303 civilians two months ago has been taken into custody, a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo said.
The chief of staff of the Mai Mai Cheka rebel group, Lt. Col. Sadoke Kokunda Mayele, was arrested by U.N. peacekeepers in the Walikale territory of North Kivu province Tuesday in a joint action with the Congolese government, the U.N. said in an e-mailed statement.
Mayele is accused of coordinating a series of attacks between July 30 and Aug. 2 on 13 villages in Walikale with two other rebel groups. At least 235 women, 52 girls, 13 men and 3 boys were raped, a report by the U.N. Joint Human Rights Office in Congo said last month.
"The numerous criminal acts committed under Lt Col. Mayele's command cannot be undone, but let his apprehension be a signal to all perpetrators of sexual violence that impunity for these types of crimes is not accepted and that justice will prevail," Margot Wallstrom, the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, said in a statement Tuesday.
The U.N. force, known as MONUSCO, said Mayele had been handed over to military judicial authorities, who have opened a judicial inquiry.
Both the U.N. and the Congolese army bolstered their troop presence in the region after coming under criticism for not responding to the attacks sooner.
Walikale is a mountainous region in a remote, forested part of the country. Numerous armed groups, including some members of the army, are fighting over control of mines and trade routes in the area, which is rich in tin ore, gold, and coltan, an ore used in electronics.
Three pilots have been kidnapped since July from the region's main airstrip by Mai Mai Cheka rebels, after which trade in minerals from the region was halted by Congo's President Joseph Kabila to root out the "mafia groups" who the government said control the sector.
Coppied by http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2013081935_congo06.html
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