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| East/Subsaharan Africa | |
| Congo observers slaughtered after unanswered pleas | |
| 2003-06-13 | |
| Long and absolutely horrifying and infuriating. BUNIA - For six days, two terrified United Nations military observers phoned their superiors — as many as four times a day — begging to be evacuated from their remote outpost in northeastern Congo. "Anyone pick up? "No, I got that damn 'Monster Mash' answering machine message again." They were receiving death threats, they said. They were alone and unarmed in Mongbwalu, a former gold-mining town ruled by the cannibalistic Lendu tribal militias. Why is this starting to sound like a really bad horror movie? A U.N. helicopter from the town of Bunia could have retrieved them in 35 minutes. Past tense... But the United Nations, handcuffed by its own rules and bureaucracy, never sent a chopper. On May 18, 10 days after the two peacekeepers made their first distress call, the United Nations finally flew some armed peacekeepers to Mongbwalu. They found the mutilated bodies of Maj. Safwat al-Oran, 37, of Jordan, and Capt. Siddon Davis Banda, 29, of Malawi. Their decomposed corpses had been tossed into a canal and covered with dirt, according to those who saw the bodies. They were shot in the eyes. Their stomachs were split open and their hearts and livers were missing. One man's brain was gone. What can you say to something like this? Thirty-five minutes. Thirty-'effin-five minutes, and these two could have been out of that that hellhole. The murders laid bare the challenge of bringing peace to one of the world's complex and resilient wars and exposed the limits of the United Nation's efforts to do so. These weren't murders. They were abominations. They didn't expose the limits of UN effors, they exposed the utter disregard for human life so often exhibited by the UN The U.N. mission in Congo (MONUC) has been criticized by many, including some in its own rank-and-file, for being disorganized and naive. Now, its critics charge, it's also partly responsible for the deaths of the two observers. "Why didn't they rescue them? They had armed troops here, who could have saved them," said one U.N. observer in Bunia, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Good question. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Koffi? "They killed them." No argument here. Col. Daniel Vollot, the MONUC sector commander in Bunia, said all U.N. employees here work in dangerous, unpredictable conditions and that MONUC isn't responsible for the deaths of Banda and Oran. Well, the Grand Poobah of the sector is about to speak. Prepare for his wisdom... "We can't feel guilty," said Vollot. "Certainly, if we had arrived two or three days before, they would be alive. It's difficult, but I don't feel guilty about that." You bastard. Words cannot describe how inappropriate you unabashed arrogance is. You're a hateful little man, and I hope you die just as these two did: agonizingly, knowing that help is only a half-hour away. The murders were a serious setback to U.N. operations in Congo's Ituri province, where some 50,000 people have died in fighting between Hema and Lendu tribal armies since 1999. After the killings, the United Nations pulled out all its military observers and sent them to Bunia, Ituri's largest town. Now little is known about what happens even a few miles outside Bunia. Aid workers and human rights observers fear that vast human rights abuses are taking place across Ituri province. You don't say... Human rights abuses like, oh, I don't know, ethnic cleansing and CANNABALISM? Or does mentioning these "practices" performed by an "alternative ethnic culture" make me an "ethnocentric Anglo-Saxon racist"? MONUC is "a long, bad story," said Francois Grignon, the Central Africa director for the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based research agency. Details of the killings in Mongbwalu — one of the most horrific acts of violence against U.N. employees in the international body's 58-year history — are still emerging. The U.N. is investigating what happened. Your tax dollars at work. But in separate interviews with Knight Ridder, five U.N. military observers with knowledge of what happened to Oran and Banda said their murders could have been avoided. In fact, they said, only luck prevented tribal fighters from butchering more helpless military observers trapped in other remote areas. All five spoke on condition of anonymity because they worried about the repercussions they could face from the United Nations and their own countries. I thought the UN was a huggy, lovey, peaceful organization. They wouldn't sanction these persons for telling the TRUTH would they? Oh, yeah, it IS the UN. Did I mention TRUTH in the same room as UN? Sorry truth. Vollot acknowledged that Oran and Banda for several days had asked U.N. officials in Kisangani to be pulled out of Mongbwalu. When asked why U.N. troops weren't sent to pick up the two observers, Vollot said his command's Russian-made Mi-26 helicopters were piloted by civilians. The Russian and Ukrainian pilots were afraid to fly there, and the United Nations didn't want to put their lives at risk, Vollot said. And under U.N. rules, the ruling Lendu militia had to give permission to land a helicopter in Mongbwalu. It also was unclear which Lendu militia was in charge of the town, he said. No pilots. The cannibals have to give you permission to land if you have pilots. And not sure who is in charge... And if Walter Conkrite, Hillary, Bill, Pelosi, and ANSWER get their way, these morons will be running your army. TAAA DAAAA! So his soldiers had to wait for clearance from the Lendu chief, and only MONUC headquarters in Kinshasa, the capital, could authorize a rescue operation. "These are the rules of the United Nations," said Vollot. And we all know how the Socialists despise free thinking and creative problem solving that might break the rules The question in many minds is this: Why were the observers sent in the first place? I was thinking the same thing. For years, Mongbwalu was a volatile, violent place in the most volatile, violent province of Congo. Six Red Cross workers were brutally murdered in Ituri in 2001. Neither Oran nor Banda spoke French, Swahili or any local language. There were no armed U.N. peacekeepers in the area, and the observers were sent with no weapons. It was Oran's first mission. He had little experience in Africa, let alone in a complex conflict such as Congo where military allegiances often switch day to day, said those who knew him. "They were so at risk. It was not prudent for two milobs (military observers) to be sent with no force protection to a place which was known to be violent for years," said Nigel Pearson, the medical coordinator in Bunia for Medair, a relief agency. "It was naive of MONUC. They weren't fully aware of the complexities of the situation."
Just keeping up appearances, boys. The UN only has to LOOK like it's doing something. At the time, MONUC needed to have a strong presence in Ituri, said the observers. The Ugandan army, which occupied the province, was leaving in accordance with a multinational peace pact. MONUC was expected to fill the security vacuum. "The U.N. was very pressured to find a solution to the Congo war," said a third U.N. military observer. "They sent observers too soon to a situation where we can't do our work." On May 8, that became clear. With the Ugandans gone, clashes between Hema and Lendu militias had broken out all over the province. Oran and Banda called MONUC's offices in Kisangani asking to be evacuated, said a fourth U.N. military observer. But it was unclear who was responsible for the observers. For the next four days, phone calls were exchanged among Kisangani, Bunia and Kinshasa about getting clearance to evacuate Oran and Banda. "There was a lot of confusion," said the U.N. military observer. Disregard for the lives in their and bureacratic bullshit is more likely... Par for the course. Meanwhile, other U.N. military observers in other parts of Ituri also wanted to be evacuated. Many had to wait several days, too. Some ended up escaping on their own across the Ugandan border. Lendu militias intimidated other observers for days and accused them of spying for the Hemas. In one instance, an observer had a gun pointed at his head. Armed fighters surrounded other observers, threatening to kill them. "What happened to the two observers could have happened to me," said one observer, shaking his head. The last telephone call from Oran and Banda was on May 13. That was the day the United Nations believes they were killed. Really? Wow, a bunch of rocket scientist them thar UN critters are, Maw! "Everyone is to blame, starting from the guy who planned the operation," said the fourth U.N. military observer. On Wednesday, MONUC held a memorial service for Oran and Banda in Kinshasa. Senior representatives of all 15 members of the U.N. Security Council, who are here on a fact-finding mission, attended the ceremony. How anyone can still say that the UN has credibility is beyond me. This is the body politic that the Leftist Lackwit Boot-licking Appeasement Monkeys™ want to turn our sovreignty over to. God, I shudder at the thought... | |
| Posted by:Celissa |
| #5 "It's difficult, but I don't feel guilty about that." Congratulations Mr. Vollot. You have just made the history books. We don't need to wish you a slow, hideous and torturous death. The utterance of those words reverberating in your brain (as well as the history books) has assured it. |
| Posted by: Becky 2003-06-14 01:33:18 |
| #4 Hmmmmm...... Let me guess. Would Col. Daniel Vollot be of French extraction? |
| Posted by: whitecollar redneck 2003-06-13 23:26:29 |
| #3 Leave M. Vollot behind...bastard |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-06-13 21:11:38 |
| #2 So anyone want to start a pool predicting how many days it takes the French to bail out. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2003-06-13 20:57:09 |
| #1 May my typos and stilted delivery attest to how pissed off I am about this story... Just an observation: A preview feature on the article submission would save a lot of red-faced, after-the-fact proof reading. At least on my part. :) |
| Posted by: Celissa 2003-06-13 20:49:45 |