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Soldiers have committed acts of sexual violence in the north-east Democratic Republic of Congo, a UN humanitarian group said Wednesday, reporting dozens of cases.
"A total of 57 cases of sexual violence have been reported since the beginning of the year in the area of Kungu," the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.
"The suspected perpetrators are armed men," said the report, with a spokesman naming the Congolese armed forces (FARDC).
DARDC soldiers, whose ranks include ex-rebels and militia all integrated into one post-war force, are frequently accused of rape, particularly in the unstable Nord Kivu and Sud Kivu provinces.
Nine Congolese solders were sentenced in February to between 10 and 20 years in prison for raping about sixty women in the Fizi area of Sud Kivu.
