This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

UN-backed Congolese troops have been accused of murdering and raping villagers and looting homes in the area in which rebel militias carried out mass rapes two months ago.

Margot Wallstrom, the UN envoy on sexual violence in conflict, told the security council yesterday that UN peacekeepers had received reports of serious abuses by Congolese government soldiers.

In August, details emerged of the mass rape of more than 300 women, several men and children in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The UN – which had a base 20 miles from the scene of the attacks – admitted failing to protect the victims.

It now faces further embarrassment because it provides logistical support to the Congolese army, which stands accused of compounding terror inflicted by the Rwandan-led FDLR rebels and the Congolese Mai-Mai militia.

Wallstrom, who visited Congo last week, said she heard directly from villagers and UN peacekeepers in the area in which killings, rapes and lootings were recently carried out by government soldiers.

She urged the Congolese government to investigate the attacks and "swiftly hold any perpetrators to account".

"The possibility that the same communities that were brutalised by FDLR and Mai-Mai elements in July and August are now also suffering exactions at the hands of [government] troops is unimaginable and unacceptable," she said.

In response to the mass rapes, the Congo president, Joseph Kabila, ordered a moratorium on mining in the mineral-rich area and sent thousands of army troops to reassert government control.

Wallstrom added: "I am gravely concerned about the ongoing military operations ... in the Walikale territory, and the implications for the protection of civilians."

She called on the government to deploy police to protect civilians and investigators, and said she had asked UN peacekeepers to monitor and give daily reports on rapes and other sexual violence.

The UN said 303 civilians – 235 women, 13 men, 52 girls and three boys – were raped in 13 villages in the Walikale area. Even in eastern Congo, which has been described as the "rape capital of the world", such numbers are extraordinary.

Wallstrom began her report by quoting a rape victim who said: "A dead rat is worth more than the body of a woman."

The UN mission – the world's biggest peacekeeping operation – has previously been criticised by human rights groups for supporting the Congolese army despite its record of violations. Congo's government wants UN forces to withdraw next year.

Wallstrom urged the UN to impose sanctions against a Rwandan Hutu rebel commander over the mass rapes. She told the security council that a man known as "Colonel Serafim" was among those believed to be responsible for the attacks.

Sanctions could include a financial freeze and a travel ban. "This may be done on the basis of the credible information from the witnesses on the scene that he also commanded the mass rapes in Walikale," she said.

Earlier this month, UN peacekeepers captured a rebel commander named only as Colonel Mayele, whom they accused of being behind the rapes.

A UN report said Mayele led a coalition of militiamen that attacked the town of Luvungi on 30 July and held it until 3 August. He was turned in by members of his own militia because his leader's family members were among those assaulted.

Congo's eastern provinces are under siege by Rwandan Hutu insurgents and Mai-Mai militia who have lingered in the vast, mineral-rich zone since Congo's 1998-2003 war.

Marcel Stoessel, the country director of Oxfam in Congo, called for the UN Monusco mission to take greater care before conducting joint operations with the Congolese army.

"Units should not be involved in operations without vetting those who could have been involved in past human rights abuses," he said.

Stoessel said the current approach was failing, adding: "Even if we don't have concrete evidence of this latest incident yet, it is clear that military offensives are not what the people are calling for, and our surveys show this."

He added: "Large parts of South Kivu province have become an 'emergency zone'. I think it's never been worse in the past two years. The offensives have stirred a hornets' net – and now the hornets are stinging."