UNITED NATIONS — About 500 women were raped in eastern Congo in July and August, demonstrating that both rebel militias and government troops used sexual violence as a weapon, two senior United Nations officials said Tuesday.
Since U.N. officials first disclosed late last month that large numbers of women had been gang-raped, the number reported has grown to 242 victims, from at least 150, concentrated in 13 villages in North Kivu Province, including 28 minors. Atul Khare, the deputy head of peacekeeping and the senior official sent from U.N. headquarters to investigate, told the Security Council on Tuesday that at least 257 more women had been raped elsewhere.
Rape as a weapon of war has become commonplace in eastern Congo, where at least 8,300 rapes were reported last year, according to the United Nations.
