UN acknowledges failings over mass sex attack

A UN report on the atrocities, which revealed the mass rape in the town of Luvungi at the end of July, has prompted an emergency session of the UN security council to order secretary-general Ban Ki Moon to send a senior envoy to investigate.

The Congo conflict has become notorious for the sexual abuse of women and girls, with one UN envoy calling it the "rape capital of the world" earlier this year.

UN workers had previously received reports of 150 rapes near Luvungi but failed to send troops to protect the local people from further attacks by gunmen suspected of crossing the border from neighbouring Rwanda.

The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, whose insurgents are blamed for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, has been fingered for the attacks but deny that its soldiers took part.

UN soldiers claim that they were not told about the attacks until 10 days after they were committed, even though their military base is barely 20 miles outside Luvungi.

The UN mission in Congo, intended to keep the peace between the country's army and militia groups in the east of the country, insisted however that patrols would now be "stepped up to reassure the local population."