INVESTIGATION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN EASTERN DRC A comparison of types of perpetrators in 2004 with types of perpetrators in 2008 revealed impressive differences. As illustrated in Figure 8, there was a remarkable 1733% or 17-fold increase in the reported number of civilian perpetrators between 2004 and 2008 (P-value < 0.0001). During the same time period, the number of reported rapes by armed combatants decreased by 77% (P-value = 0.086) and the number of rapes by non-specified perpetrators decreased by 92% (P-value < 0.0001). Despite the increase in civilian perpetrators over the fouryear period, armed combatants were still the predominant perpetrators in 2008 (52% in 2004 vs. 46% in 2008). Of all rapes reported for 2004, fewer than 1% were perpetrated by civilians versus 38% of all rapes reported in 2008. Figure 8. Comparison of sexual assault perpetrators between 2004 and 2008. Armed combatant refers to a combination of soldiers with a specific military affiliation and soldiers NOS without an identified military affiliation. Figure 9 also demonstrates some important differences in the types of sexual assaults being committed in 2004 as compared with 2008. Within that time period, there was a 50% decrease in the total number of rapes NOS (P-value < 0.0001), a 60% decrease in the total number of sexual slaveries (P-value = 0.01) and an 84% decrease in the total number of gang rapes (P-value < 0.0001). 19