Edited...
Allegations of cannibalism and mass murder are coming from Congolese civilians of the Hema ethnic group who have fled across the border into western Uganda.
Terrified civilians have fled in their thousands. It is impossible to verify some of the more extreme claims - for example that the ethnic Lendu militia have eaten the hearts of Hema victims or worn their intestines as a grisly headdress. But there is no doubt about the fear felt by fleeing civilians.
| I don't think I'd hang around and make sure they were just rumors, either. The penalty for being wrong is being lunch... |
United Nations officials are taking the allegations of cannibalism seriously and plan to investigate.
There it is. The UN "plans to investigate". That pretty much sums up the impotence of the UN.
| Don't worry. I'm sure they're preparing the memo right this moment and that its processing will be expedited, as long as it's in the correct format... |
Amos Namanga Ngongi, head of the UN mission in Congo, told reporters that the reports were too persistent to be entirely without foundation. In the fishing village of Ntoroko, at the southern tip of Lake Albert, the authorities claim 12,000 refugees have crossed the border over the last month. During the exodus from the Ituri district, most of the refugees benefited from the protection of the withdrawing Ugandan troops. "We would all have been massacred on the way if it weren't for the large numbers of Ugandan soldiers," whispers Antoinette. Antoinette says the Lendu militia around Bunia town have been killing the Hema in large numbers. Between Bunia and the border, she claims to have seen empty villages where Hema once lived. She says now they are occupied by the Lendu and their allied Ngiti militias. The small UN force have failed to halt the violence.
The losing streak is still intact, unfortunately.
All of the refugees I met were critical of the United Nations for not protecting them from the militias.
| "It's a cultural thing. We didn't want to get involved. The natives have been doing this sort of thing for years, now..." |
"I don't know if the minds of those at the UN headquarters are functioning well," says Ngadjole Lonema who describes himself as a businessman from Bunia. He criticises the UN for deploying as few as 700 peacekeepers on the ground while the Ugandan army has been withdrawing some 9,000 troops from Congo.
| Were they supposed to be peacekeepers? I thought they were observers. And two of them were killed and eaten... |
I asked Ngadjole Lonema what advice he would give to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. "He must deploy at least 15,000 troops immediately to prevent the Hema being eliminated from the map of Congo. If he doesn't act quickly he will count the dead bodies like they were counted in Rwanda in 1994." While hope is currently pinned on a ceasefire between the opposing factions, many suggest that militias capable of carrying out horrendous human rights atrocities are unlikely to turn into a disciplined force overnight. So the immediate deployment of a large peacekeeping force is essential. |