GENEVA - The United Nations says a three-year-old girl in eastern Congo died after being raped by suspected rebels last month.
A spokeswoman for the UN humanitarian office says the toddler died May 20 on the way to hospital. The perpetrators are believed to have been members of the Rwandan Hutu extremist group FDLR.
Spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs says the incident "represents the barbarism and the horror that is currently happening" in Congo's south Kivu province.
The UN has warned rapes, lootings and killings by the army and rebels are on the rise in eastern Congo.
Byrs told reporters Friday in Geneva the girl's sisters, aged 12, 14, and 17, had also reportedly been raped.
UNICEF estimates that half of all report rapes in Congo involve children.
© The Canadian Press, 2009
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment