DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The number of children and women who are survivors of sexual violence in Congo surged over four fold over the first half this year, Save The Children said on Thursday, amid a reduction in humanitarian support following aid cuts.
The charity said it treated 2,702 child and women survivors of sexual violence between January and July, compared with 612 in the same period last year. Some survivors faced unwanted pregnancies, stigma and suicidal thoughts, it said.
Congo's health ministry has reported a 16% increase in cases of sexual violence to about 73,400 over the same period. Almost one-third involved girls aged under 16, it said.
The decades-long conflict in the central African nation of Congo escalated in January, when the M23 rebels advanced and seized the strategic eastern Congolese city of Goma, followed by the town of Bukavu in February. The fighting has killed some 3,000 people, raised the fears of a wider regional war, and created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises.
The findings from Save The Children echoed similar statements from the U.N. Earlier this year, the U.N. children's agency said that children made up between 35% to 45% of the nearly 10,000 cases of rape and sexual violence reported in Congo in January and February this year.
Sexual violence in Congo is used as “a weapon of war and a deliberate tactic of terror,” James Elder, the head of the UNICEF said earlier this year.
Aid cuts from the United States and Europe have curtailed the ability of humanitarian agencies to help the thousands of survivors of gender-based violence, who would normally receive items including sanitary pads and soap.
With 7 million people displaced in Congo, the U.N. has called the conflict in eastern Congo “one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.”
The United States and others have been trying to achieve a permanent ceasefire since fighting between M23 and Congolese forces escalated.
The Congolese and Rwandan foreign ministers signed a peace deal at the White House in July. But M23 was not directly involved in the negotiations and said it could not abide by the terms of the agreement.
The final step was meant to be a separate deal between Congo and M23, facilitated by the Gulf state of Qatar, that would bring about a permanent ceasefire. However, a deadline for the deal was missed and there have been no public signs of talks between Congo and M23 on the final terms.
FILE - Women walk in the Bulengo refugee camp in Goma, Congo, Thursday, Aug, 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, File)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police in Ohio's capital city said Wednesday that they have gathered enough evidence to link a man charged in the double homicide of his ex-wife and her husband in their Columbus home last month to the killings.
Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said in an Associated Press interview that authorities now believe Michael David McKee, 39, a vascular surgeon who was living in Chicago, was the person seen walking down a dark alley near Monique and Spencer Tepe's home in video footage from the night of the murders. His vehicle has also been identified traveling near the house, and a firearm found in his Illinois residence also traced to evidence at the scene, she said.
An attorney representing McKee could not be identified through court listings.
His arrest Saturday capped off nearly two weeks of speculation surrounding the mysterious killings that attracted national attention. No obvious signs of forced entry were found at the Tepes’ home. Police also said no weapon was found there, and murder-suicide was not suspected. Further, nothing was stolen, and the couple’s two young children and their dog were left unharmed in the home.
“What we can tell you is that we have evidence linking the vehicle that he was driving to the crime scene. We also have evidence of him coming and going in that particular vehicle,” Bryant told the AP. “What I can also share with you is that there were multiple firearms taken from the property of McKee, and one of those firearms did match preliminarily from a NIBIN (ballistic) hit back to this actual homicide.”
Bryant said that the department wants the public to keep the tips coming. Investigators were able to follow up on every phone call, email and private tip shared from the community to the department and some of that information allowed them to gather enough evidence to make an arrest, she said.
That work culminated in the apprehension of McKee in Rockford, Illinois, where the hospital where he worked — OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center — has said it is cooperating with the investigation. He has been charged with premeditated aggravated murder in the shooting deaths. Monique Tepe, who divorced McKee in 2017, was 39. Her husband, a dentist whose absence from work that morning prompted the first call to police, was 37.
McKee waived his right to an extradition hearing on Monday during an appearance in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in Winnebago County, Illinois, where he remains in jail. Bryant said officials are working out details of his return to Ohio, with no exact arrival date set. His next hearing in Winnebago County is scheduled for Jan. 23.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said Wednesday that the city doesn't prioritize high-profile cases any more than others, noting that the city's closure rate on criminal cases exceeds the national average. The city also celebrated in 2025 its lowest level of homicides and violent crime since 2007, Ginther said.
“Every case matters. Ones that receive national attention, and those that don’t,” he told the AP. “Every family deserves closure and for folks to be held accountable, and the rest of the community deserves to be safe when dangerous people are taken off the street.”
Ginther said it is vital for central Ohioans to continue to grieve with the Tepes' family, which includes two young children, and loved ones, as they cope with “such an unimaginable loss.”
“I want our community to wrap our arms around this family and these children for years to come,” he said.
This undated booking photo provided by the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, shows Michael David McKee, who was charged in the killing of his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband Spencer Tepe at their Columbus, Ohio, home on Dec. 30, 2025. (Winnebago County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Spencer and Monique Tepe's home in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)
This image taken from video shows Michael David McKee walking into the courtroom on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Rockford, Ill. (WIFR News/Pool Photo via AP)
