DRC rape charges dropped

For well over two generations the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide continues to haunt large swathes of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In the east DRC, a campaign of rape and violence against women and children goes largely uncontested, despite a massive deployment of 17,000 UN troops (MONUC), and despite a call on all parties to respect the Goma agreement. Now the UN Security Council is on a ten day tour of Sudan, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, DRC, and Nairobi (to discuss Somalia). Here is one of the many issues it needs to address.

The remnants of the Hutu extremists in the DRC, murderers and so-called soldiers, proliferate in an environment of impunity. Rape, torture, sexual slavery, and violence of these extremists is devastating thousands. Nobody knows the real numbers but in 2005 in South Kivu alone, 14,200 confirmed cases were recorded by the UN Office of Human Rights in Sud-Kivi , and the following year – 27,000.

Then, last Thursday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors dropped all charges of sexual violence in relation to the DRC. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo, two militias leaders, charged with sexual slavery, may walk free. ICC judges are excluding women's statements, interview notes and transcripts from being used against the two rapists. The reason , prosecutors, fearing for the personal safety of the witnesses, relocated the women living in danger in Ituri to an undisclosed location without going through the usual bureaucratic procedures outlined by the ICC registry