A UN envoy says some government troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have committed rape and murder

The UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Margot Wallstrom, has been briefing the Security Council on her visit to North Kivu province. She said the abuses were happening in the same area where rebels committed mass rapes in July and August 2010. Around 300 civilians and more than 50 children in the Walikale region were raped by the rebels - many of them in front of their families and neighbors. Wallstrom blamed the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and Mai-Mai militia. The attacks had focused international attention on the endemic sexual violence in Congo. Since then, Wallstrom said government troops (FARDC) had been deployed to the territory to reassert control and to implement the president's moratorium on mining in the area, which is rich in minerals. The UN special representative heard directly from locals on her visit and said UN peacekeepers in the area had also told her of rapes, killings and lootings perpetrated recently by government soldiers. She urged the DRC government to investigate the new attacks and swiftly hold any perpetrators to account.