KINSHASA - Armed men raped 127 women earlier this month during a raid on a town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's South Kivu province, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said. Some 60 militiamen assaulted the women during a May 1 attack on the town of Kikamba in the province of South Kivu's Shabunda region, MSF said in a statement. It did not identify the armed group responsible.
Dozens of armed groups operate in eastern Congo, where a 1998-2003 conflict killed millions of people, mostly from hunger and disease. Both state and rebel forces have been accused by rights groups of using rape as a weapon of war.
In November, Congolese army general Jerome Kakwavu became the highest ranking official convicted of rape by a military tribunal in Congo while a rebel commander in northeastern Congo from 2003-2005.