The United Nations reported that more than 500 systematic rapes have been committed by armed combatants in eastern Congo since late July — more than double the number previously reported — and accepted partial responsibility for not protecting citizens.

Atul Khare, the UN assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that at least 267 more rapes occurred in another area of the country's east, in addition to 242 rapes earlier reported in and around Luvungi, a village of about 2,200 people, about 30 kilometres from a UN peacekeepers' camp.

"While the primary responsibility for protection of civilians lies with the state, its national army and police force, clearly, we have also failed," Khare said. "Our actions were not adequate, resulting in unacceptable brutalization of the population of the villages in the area. We must do better."

The UN peacekeeping force in Congo, also called Congo-Kinshasa, launched an operation a week ago using 750 troops to back efforts by Congolese security forces to arrest the perpetrators of the attacks, Khare said. At least 27 rebels armed with automatic rifles have surrendered and at least four more have been arrested, he said.

Meanwhile, Khare said, the peacekeeping force, called MONUSCO, will undertake more night patrols and perform more random checks on communities. The UN is also looking into ways of providing peacekeepers with mobile phones by installing a high frequency radio in Luvungi, he said.

Luvungi is a farming centre on the main road between Goma, the eastern provincial capital, and the major mining town of Walikale.

Khare told reporters after the council session that more than 15,000 rapes were reported in Congo in both 2008 and 2009.

Ambassador Susan Rice, the U.S. representative to the UN, called Tuesday's briefing "very frank, comprehensive and illuminating" and said she looked forward to more sessions examining ways to prevent future mass rapes in Congo.

Additional attacks come to light

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in recent days sent Khare to Congo to investigate why it wasn't until Aug. 12 that peacekeepers learned of at least 242 mass rapes that took place in the Luvungi area from July 30 to Aug. 4 until Aug. 12. The International Medical Corps, which was treating many of the victims, told the peacekeepers about the rapes.

The additional sexual attacks, in an area called Uvira and other regions of North and South Kivu, came to light during Khare's trip. He told council members he learned of 74 cases of sexual violence, including assaults against 21 minors — all girls between the ages of seven and 15 — and six men, in a village called Miki, in South Kivu. All the women in another village, Kiluma, may have been systematically raped, he said.

Khare said in a community called Katalukulu, 10 women were raped by Congolese soldiers, who he said must "maintain a much higher standard of discipline, good behaviour and conduct and observance of human rights."

Altogether, he detailed new reports of mass rapes on various communities that added up to at least 267.

Khare called for prosecution of Rwandan rebel FDLR and Congolese Mai-Mai rebels blamed for many of the attacks and UN sanctions against their leaders.

Margot Wallstrom, who is responsible for U.N. efforts to combat sexual violence in conflict, expressed her alarm over the increase in reported rapes, saying they show "a broader pattern of widespread and systematic rape and pillage." A senior member of Wallstrom's staff accompanied Khare on his recent trip.

"It is evident that rape is increasingly selected as the weapon of choice in eastern [Congo], with numbers reaching endemic proportions," she told the Security Council.

Last month, Wallstrom warned leaders of rebel groups that they could be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court because widespread and systemic sexual violence can constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Congo's UN Ambassador Ileka Atoki expressed his "deep disgust" with the mass rapes and thanked the Security Council for investigating the attacks.

Atoki said his country would continue to need international help to combat the attacks, characterizing national police sources as "pathetic." But international backing for efforts to end the protracted conflict in eastern Congo are just as important, he said.