DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO:UP TO half of the child soldiers reunited with their families in the Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile North Kivu province may have been recruited again by warring militias over the past year, according to a report to be released today.
Describing the human rights situation in the region as "appalling" Amnesty International also highlighted the rape of several hundred women and girls every month by government forces and armed groups.
North Kivu, near Congo's eastern border, erupted into violence in August last year in the worst fighting since the official end of the civil war in 2003. With a ceasefire agreement signed in January repeatedly broken, UN peacekeepers have been unable to stop the 20,000 government troops and several thousand rebel fighters from brutalising the civilian population.
While the number of child soldiers in eastern Congo is estimated to be between 3,000 and 6,000 - down from 30,000 at the height of the war - Amnesty said that the renewed hostilities had caused a surge in recruitment. All the warring groups in North Kivu contributed to the "continuing horror" of rape and other sexual violence. According to recent UN figures, there are 350 rapes every month in North Kivu, with a third of the victims being girls under 18. Reluctance to report rapes means the real total is probably far higher.Heavy fighting over the past month has forced 100,000 people from their homes in North Kivu. - ( Guardianservice)