MILITIAS fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are recruiting child soldiers and raping hundreds of children, UN children’s fund Unicef said today.

“In the North and South Kivu provinces, we are receiving horrific reports of grave violations against children by parties to the conflict, including rape and other forms of sexual violence at levels surpassing anything we have seen in recent years,” Unicef executive director Catherine Russell said.

“One mother recounted to our staff how her six daughters, the youngest just 12 years old, were systematically raped by armed men while searching for food.”

Over 100 armed groups are fighting in the east of the huge African country, the most powerful of which is M23, a group supported by Rwanda, which conquered the largest city in the region, Goma, late last month.

Since then the level of sexual violence has soared, according to Unicef’s local chief of communications Lianne Gutcher, with 572 rapes reported from January 27 to February 2 — a fivefold increase on the previous week — 170 of those being of children.