As the M23 rebels advanced on Bukavu during January and February, several villages along Lake Kivu were turned into battlefields. Though fighters from all sides have committed atrocities, civil society groups and activists have identified the Congolese military and allied Wazalendo militias from the North Kivu province as raping women and children.

Riziki (not her real name) told DW that she survived an attack.

"Three soldiers broke into my house to loot," Riziki said. "One of them came into my bedroom to rape me, but I resisted."

"The others shouted at him to leave, but he refused," Riziki said. "Luckily, my son came to my rescue and they left after they had trashed everything."

The crime took place in February in Kavumu village, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Bukavu. After that, Riziki, a mother of five, has found refuge in Bukavu.

She hoped to receive justice in Bukavu during a planned trial. But then, M23 fighters took the city. Judges, lawyers, defendants, convicts, and........

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