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| Africa: West | |
| Congo massacre claims 23 lives | |
| 2003-10-07 | |
At least 23 people, most of them women and children, have been hacked and shot to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations has said. The attack reportedly took place early Monday morning in the village of Kachele, some 100km from the regional capital Bunia, said Isabelle Abric, a spokeswoman for the MONUC force charged with keeping the peace in the capital of the Ituri region in the DRC. It is the first reported massacre since international peacekeepers began patrolling the troubled northeast Ituri region last month. The area was the scene of fierce fighting between the Lendu and Hema militias in July and August. Thousands of civilians fled the clashes. "Members of MONUC who went to the area saw 23 bodies, but according to other eyewitness accounts, 32 other bodies had already been buried," Abric said. Abric said the victims were "mostly children, pregnant women or older people killed with machetes or shot."
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| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #4 Dozens of tribal fighters attacked a village in volatile northeastern Congo with assault rifles and machetes, killing at least 65 people, mainly children, looting property and setting huts on fire, U.N officials said Tuesday. U.N. troops who were sent to investigate the attack, which took place Monday in Katchele, found 23 bodies in a church, others in a mass grave and some in the bush surrounding the village, said Fred Eckhard, a U.N. spokesman in New York. Isabelle Abric, a spokeswoman for the U.N. mission in Congo, said the victims were from the Hema tribe and fighters from the rival Lendu tribe were suspected of carrying out the attack. The victims found in the bush "may have been people who went to die in the bush after being injured in the attack," Abric said. "They also could have been hunted down and attacked while hiding in the bush." |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-10-7 2:28:34 PM |
| #3 Here are some articles that deal with the different funding methods for assorted rebel groups: Canadiens called to boycott cell phones. Tigers funding activities through conscripting child soldiers than turning them over to UNICEF for rehabilitation. It would be a good to have a list of which products funds which repression and terror. I wouldn't have expected a purchase of a dried flower arrangement to potentially fund North Korea. |
| Posted by: Superhose 2003-10-7 12:20:26 PM |
| #2 Congo: Guns don't kill people, machetes do. |
| Posted by: anonymous coward 2003-10-7 5:06:51 AM |
| #1 Thank God the UN is there! |
| Posted by: .com 2003-10-7 4:00:52 AM |