KAMPALA: A Congolese militia accused a rival group of killing 352 civilians in a weekend attack near the embattled northeastern town of Bunia, where French-led peacekeepers are due to start deploying this week.
"The Frenchies are coming, Ngombo!"
"Well, let's get the slaughter out of the way before they get here..." |
Kisembo Bitamara, spokesman of the Party for the Unity and Safeguarding of the Integrity of Congo, told Reuters the attack was carried out by Lendu fighters backed by Congolese government troops at Tchomia on the shores of Lake Albert. "They killed 352 civilians, men, women and children, 37 of whom were at the Tchomia hospital," said Bitamara, whose PUSIC party represents a segment of the rival Hema community.
| Just a normal weekend's festivities in the DRC... |
He said the attack at Tchomia, about 50-km (30 miles) east of Bunia, involved mortars and automatic weapons and started at 5:00 am on Saturday and lasted the whole morning. Officials in Kinshasa and Lendu commanders in Bunia could not immediately be reached for comment. UN peacekeepers in Bunia routinely say they have no hard information on events beyond its outskirts because they do not go far from the town.
| "Who us? We din't see nuffin'!... Duck!" |
"The attackers, about 2,500 of them, attacked the residence of our leader Chief Kawa and killed 22 of his relatives but chief Kawa was not there," Bitamara added. He said Hema fighters had fought back, killing six Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government troops. "Kinshasa is behind this attack... the Lendu did not have mortars and machine guns before they came from Kinshasa," he said.
The reported attack happened only hours after the UN Security Council authorised a French-led multinational force to deploy in Bunia to try to prevent massacres in the remote area scarred by tribal killings and cannibalism.
Meanwhile, at least 100 Congolese were killed over the weekend in an attack by rival tribal fighters on a fishing village on the Congo-Uganda border, a senior Ugandan military commander said Monday. |