Congo Militia Leader Arrested for Mass Rapes

On Tuesday morning, the Congo militia leader, Colonel Mayele, was arrested by the U.N and Congolese forces for committing numerous rapes during the summer. This controversy began when the U.N discovered and placed out a report regarding the inability of forces to stop the numerous crimes of rape. "The preliminary report confirmed that at least 303 civilians were raped between July 30 and August 2." The report also claimed the inability that the Congolese army has when it comes to protecting their citizens and how they do not have telecommunication systems. A U.N commissioner explained how these acts were vicious in nature and even though rape in the eastern part of the Dominican Republic of the Congo has been a large issue for the past 13 years, the way these acts were planned and brought out were horrid. Some of the rape victims included children, their homes were robbed, and abot 116 people were taken away for forced labor. When investigators explored these crimes, the victims said that rape was a way of punishing traitors. However,the militia men claimed that they came into the villages to provide security. This of course was not the case. The soldiers had their crimes already planned before they even entered the towns. One group of soldiers would be in charge of robbing and raping the citizens, while the other group of soldiers were waiting for the fleeing citizens to rape them. It is also known that about 200 military men took part in this violence, and they were armed with heavy weaponry. Because these actions were extremely brutal, the U.N wants to make sure that these events never happen again and that the citizens have the protection that they desperately need.