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The UN has raised the alarm over widespread, systematic sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), saying there have been reports of armed groups carrying out mass rape.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN refugee agency, said its staff had heard horrific testimonies from forcibly displaced people in south-eastern Tanganyika province.
The agency is “gravely concerned about incidents of widespread and systematic sexual violence against Congolese women and girls”, said its spokesperson, Shabia Mantoo.
“In just the past two weeks, humanitarian partners in the Kongolo and Mbulula health zones have recorded 243 incidents of rape, 48 of which involved minors, in 12 different villages,” Mantoo said.
