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| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| UN troops wait behind razor-wire as Congo’s streets run with blood |
| 2003-05-23 |
| Title really says it all. EFL. Dead bodies litter Bunia's empty streets. From some the blood still drips from machete slashes, spear thrusts and bullet wounds. Others are two weeks old and stinking, half-eaten by the packs of dogs flopping lazily about the once-prosperous north-eastern capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. There are women's bodies scattered in Bunia's main mar ket place; a baby's body on its main road; two priests' bodies inside one church. Last week, a burning corpse was tossed on to the main UN compound's lawn, to show 700 Uruguayan peacekeepers what they were missing while they cowered under fire behind its razor-wire perimeter, unauthorised to intervene in the latest massacre of Congolese civilians. Good ole' UN peacekeepers. As the two-week fight for Bunia between rival ethnic militias cooled this week, Albert Asumani slipped back to the ransacked suburb of Nyambe where he lives. "Why? Why are we killing our brothers? When will it end?" he said, stripping off a pair of yellow rubber gloves he had donned to toss two dead neighbours into a pit-latrine. Not even a proper burial. This week, for perhaps the first time, western countries appear to be asking the same question about Congo's four-and-a-half-year war, which at one time involved nine national armies and a confusion of local militias, and which has already claimed an estimated 4.7 million lives. On Tuesday France sent military observers to Bunia; it is now considering sending troops with orders to shoot to kill. Britain may send a small force in support. This flicker of attention to the world's biggest war comes after the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, called for a "coalition of the willing" to police Bunia and the surrounding hills of Ituri province. Carla del Ponte, the UN war crimes prosecutor, has suggested that the mass killings by the local Hema and Lendu tribes "could be genocide". "It could be genocide, then maybe not. Were US troops within a thousand miles? That would definitely make it a genocide. After all, we're the UN; we have lots of experience with genocide!" In fact, the war in Ituri is not a genocide, a word which describes a systematic programme of annihilation. It is too chaotic, with random atrocities perpetrated by Hema and Lendu militias. Nor is the killing of 300 people in Bunia particularly extreme by Ituri's recent standards. Last September in nearby Nyakunde village, 1,200 Hema civilians were killed. In all, Ituri's war - which began after Uganda armed Hemas and Lendus in a bid to control Ituri - has claimed an estimated 50,000 lives. "No one was bothered about Nyakunde or took much notice of Ituri before," said Anneke Van Woudenberg of Human Rights Watch. "But now you have a few UN peacekeepers getting shot at and suddenly everyone's interested in Congo." You prefer the other way, Anneke? No wonder HRW is becoming useless. The battle for Bunia began on March 6, as Ugandan troops withdrew from the town in line with a recent peace accord. With the UN mission in Congo unable to fill the vacuum - having only 4,000 troops to police an area two-thirds the size of western Europe - a massacre in Bunia had been widely predicted. "Does the world care what happens to Congo? No," said Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Vollot, the French commander of UN forces in Ituri. "We've been sending messages every day to [the UN headquarters in] New York [saying] this was going to happen, that we need more troops. Nothing was done." Danno, the usual UN way -- if they had sent you the troops -- would have been to tell you not to shoot. The Lendus took the town, and began looting and killing Hema civilians, putting 250,000 people to flight. Among the 12,000 that remained, crammed against the razor-wire of the UN compound, was Safi Sabina, 32. "People were screaming, we were running from the machetes," she said, bowing her head to the baby in her lap as she began to cry. Her father, mother, two aunts and three young brothers and sisters were all murdered by the militiamen. Days later, the main Hema militia, the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), rearmed by Uganda, took the town. During the UPC's previous seven-month rule in Ituri, its fighters massacred an estimated 10,000 Lendus. Now, in power again, it is killing less selectively. Tit for tat. The UPC chased the Lendus through the suburb, and then returned to murder its residents and loot their homes, he said. Most of their victims were not even Lendu, but members of Ituri's other small tribes, murdered for their few cooking pots and clothes. With Bunia thoroughly looted this week, the contents of its every house spilled into the dirt outside, Lendu and Hema fighters mixed cheerfully across the frontline. "We don't have a problem anymore, we're Congolese brothers," declared one such group within metres of Nyambe's decaying bodies. The killing and looting, they explained, was the "inevitable" consequence of war. At least it was over, they said. Until next time. In the green hills outside Bunia, however, the killing continued. "Bunia's calm again, but in the bush we hear of the same atrocities that have been going on for three years," said Michel Kassa, the head of the UN coordination agency, OCHA, after overflying Ituri's razed villages. "We know there are people there in terrible need, but we won't be able to reach them unless an international force comes to put an end to this orgy of violence." Perfect job for the French. They want to have influence in Africa -- here ya go, Jacques. Put in a few thousand good troops and a couple squadrons of helos, and maybe a couple gunships for backup. Then let the vaunted UN start doing the relief job they should do. How about it? |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #12 Africa has much to teach us. Like "It takes a village to make it a massacre", "tribalism, don't knock it until you've tried it" |
| Posted by: Lucky 2003-7-5 10:08:06 PM |
| #11 Considering Euorpe's track record in Africa I am suprised if any African government would welcome Euorpean involvement. While(on the surface)Fed up's coment does sound bigoted,it is no more bigotted than saying Crypts/Bloods are primarily African American gangs. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-05-24 07:13:45 |
| #10 Scooter-- If the truth is racist and bigoted, does that make it any less truthful? I think not....the facts are the facts...the way things are going over there does indeed make this the Golden age..now, if we could just get some of our locals to go over there and "help"...that would be Golden. |
| Posted by: Fed UP 2003-05-23 17:09:13 |
| #9 Well, Kofi, we agree that things in the Congo are not conducive to human health. We will consider your request. Here is what we need from you: 1. Basic statement of the problem, laying out the different factions involved. You know, the givens. 2. Also include any assumptions that you make. 3. State your short term and long term goals and objectives. Be concise but very clear as to where you want to be in the short term and the long term. Do not omit or be fuzzy on these points! We will then take up your request, study it, and tell you what can be done, how it can be done, and will tell you what resources you will need. Then you can start finding resources to do the job. Once that is done, we will talk about implementing it, and Voila! Your problem is solved. RSVP. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-05-23 15:08:41 |
| #8 Fed UP, That is SO rascist and bigoted! (But there's no denying your observation totally on target.) I suspect that someday those colonial times will be looked back on as a Golden Age. Heart of Darkness? Joseph Conrad, you ain't seen nothing yet! |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2003-05-23 14:23:09 |
| #7 I could be wrong, but arent all these countries now run by the blacks that didnt like the way the whites were doing things...?? Let them all rot....good riddance. |
| Posted by: Fed UP 2003-05-23 13:26:41 |
| #6 "Coalition of the willing"? Sorry, Kofi. We'd like to help but we're kinda busy ACCCOMPLISHING something right now. Wish we had time to bail your sorry ass out, but...we don't. Besides, I thought you didn't want the US to be the big, bad world policeman. Thought that was a bad thing! I might suggest you call up that EU Rapid Response Force but...oh, yeah...sorry. Here's a quick question, while we've got you. When's the Golden Jubilee of those Pali "refugee camps" that the UN has done such a great job running? We'd like to send a cake or something. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-05-23 12:28:08 |
| #5 I suggest, for the sake of the Congo, that we move the entire UN staff to Bunia - the folks in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Paris, and wherever else the UN has office space. That way, they can be intimately involved with trying to secure this "vital area". Kofi Annan should lead the way. They may have to live in tents, eat MRE's and do business in quonset huts for a few months, but that's just the price you have to pay for being "on top of things" in the Congo. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-05-23 11:58:05 |
| #4 Yep, CC. Noticed that too. You can be sure it's intentional. Either for mocking purposes (big mistake) or because he thinks that this phrasing will get US on board. No, Kofi, we'll just scorn you more, if that's the case. I used to think the guy was talented and good for UN. |
| Posted by: Michael 2003-05-23 11:35:20 |
| #3 , Kofi Annan, called for a "coalition of the willing" to police Bunia and the surrounding hills of Ituri province. Is Annan slyly poking the U.S. for involvement in Iraq, but not in Congo? |
| Posted by: ColoradoConservative 2003-05-23 11:30:40 |
| #2 Israel/Palestine, Kashmir, Afghanistan I don't have a problem with. But when I tried reading about all the different factions involved in the DRC was all I got was a splitting headache and a deeply pesimistic feeling about things improving there anytime soon. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2003-05-23 02:10:39 |
| #1 "Why? Why are we killing our brothers? When will it end?" he said, pissing on his dead neighbor's corpse. He then picked up his machete and slaughtered two people standing nearby. Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Vollot, the French commander of UN forces in Ituri also said "I've personally approached rebel leaders three times and attempted to surrender, but they laughed in my face and sent me back." Lendu and Hema fighters mixed cheerfully across the frontline. "We don't have a problem anymore, we're Congolese brothers," declared one such group within metres of Nyambe's decaying bodies. "We all like to kill defenseless civilians, it's easier than fighting among ourselves!" |
| Posted by: Watcher 2003-05-23 01:42:19 |