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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: MONUC helps free sex slaves, civilian prisoners held by militiamen

NAIROBI, 4 December 2003 (IRIN) - Officials of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known has MONUC, helped on Tuesday to free three civilian prisoners and some 34 women who were being held as sexual slaves by militiamen in the embattled northeastern district of Ituri.

In a statement, MONUC spokesman Hamadoun Toure said the women and the civilian prisoners were freed during an operation carried out by a MONUC team in several villages in Djugu area, 60 km northwest of Bunia, the main town of Ituri.

The operation in Dala, Lalu, Banana and Dego villages led to the liberation of the three prisoners "who were rotting in the underground jail in Lalu" and the 34 women who were held as sexual slaves in camps belonging to Front des nationalistes intégrationnistes (FNI) militiamen.

"A large number of ammunitions, weapons and antipersonnel mines were seized," Toure said.

He added that four FNI commanders were arrested and transferred to the MONUC compound in Bunia. Six FNI militias camps were also destroyed, Toure said.

Patrols were being conducted regularly to reassure the populations, he added.

At the same time, a MONUC military spokesman, Lt-Col Antoine Wardini, announced the end of a MONUC reconnaissance mission to Mahagi in Ituri, which he said would be followed by the deployment withing two week of a Nepalese contingent.

He also said that armed groups in the district had communicated the strength of their troops for cantonment. The Union of Congolese Patriots reported 8,305 troops, the FNI 8,734; the Forces armées du peuple Congolais 7,228; the Parti pour l’Unité et la sauvegarde de l’Intégrité du Congo 5,614 and the Front Populaire pour la démocratie du Congo 296 troops.

"MONUC will verify the figures," Wardini said. "The armed groups seek guarantees from the Comité de Concertation des Groupes Armés prior to their disarmament."

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Human Rights

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