Perpetrator of Walikale mass rape still at large: Call for arrest and reparation to victims

Six years after one of the worst single incidents of mass rape ever recorded in the 21st century, no perpetrator of the Walikale mass rapes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has ever been brought to trial in either a domestic or international forum. The attacks were condemned at the time by the United Nations Security Council, which urged swift prosecution. The hundreds of victims have never received any acknowledgment or reparation from the Congolese state.

It is high time the lead perpetrator charged with these crimes, Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, be arrested and justice delivered to the victims of these horrific crimes. We call on the Congolese government to implement the arrest warrant in this case and begin a serious process to acknowledge the suffering of the Walikale victims and provide them urgently needed reparations.

Between July 30 and August 2, 2010, a coalition of fighters from the Mai Mai Sheka/Nduma Defense of Congo, led by Ntabo Ntaberi, known as Sheka; the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, led by Captain Serafin Lionso; and a group of army deserters, led by Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Nsengiyumva, attacked 13 villages in the Walikale territory of the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During that attack, the UN peacekeeping operation MONUSCO and its joint human rights office, JHRO, concluded that at least 387 civilians, including 300 women, 23 men, 55 girls, and 9 boys were raped. At the same time, 923 houses and 42 shops were looted, and 116 civilians were abducted and subjected to forced labor.

In late 2010, Congolese authorities launched a judicial investigation. As a result, eight arrest warrants were issued. One of the alleged perpetrators, named Mayele, was apprehended and died in prison due to illness. A second suspect, Lt. Colonel Nsengiyumva, was killed in a separate incident. Another suspect was arrested but escaped from prison in 2012. But the main leader, Sheka, has never been arrested and, in fact, ran for office in 2011. In November 2011, the UN Security Council added Sheka to its UN sanction list for DRC, freezing his assets and imposing a worldwide travel ban.

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