Reports of looting, rapes as Congo peace fades
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Congolese soldiers looted villages, reportedly raping women and ransacking homes, late Monday and early Tuesday, U.N. officials said.
The looting came before a nearly hour-long, nighttime gun battle north of the provincial capital of Goma that represented some of the most intense fighting since Rebel leader Gen. Laurent Nkunda declared a unilateral ceasefire on October 29.
Since then, both sides have accused the other of violating the ceasefire in smaller skirmishes that both the U.N. and Democratic Republic of Congo officials say have killed hundreds of people, including civilians.
U.N. spokesman Col. Jean-Paul Dietrich, speaking from Kinshasa, told CNN that Congolese troops began looting the village of Kanyabayonga, about 60 miles (100 km) north of Goma, late Monday.
"They were shooting in the air; they were shooting in houses," Dietrich said. He said U.N. officials received radio reports from local authorities saying the soldiers were also raping women in the village.
He said several hundred soldiers continued looting in villages further north.