Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E. Charters who wrote (95038)	5/21/2003 8:33:19 AM
From: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116753

Reports of cannibalism add to horror in Congo Bodies violated: Ethnic conflict has killed 50,000, rights groups say Peter Goodspeed National Post, with files from news services Wednesday, May 21, 2003 ADVERTISEMENT New reports of cannibalism are surfacing in the Democratic Republic of Congo as terrified refugees flee ethnic battles in the northeast of the country, leading to fears another Rwanda could be brewing in the area. The fighting in Ituri province is the result of a long-simmering tribal conflict between the cattle-raising Hema and the Lendu, traditionally subsistence farmers. Their hostility exploded two weeks ago, after Ugandan troops began to withdraw from the region. Ethnic militia battled in the streets of the decrepit gold-mining centre of Bunia, part of a larger struggle for control of the resource-rich territory on the western shore of Lake Albert near Uganda. The Ugandan withdrawal was an element of the larger UN-sponsored peace deal in the Congo, ending five years of civil war that at one time involved soldiers from seven other African states. As the nearly 9,000 heavily armed Ugandans began to depart, 700 unarmed UN peacekeepers were rushed to the province to fill the security void, something they have proved incapable of doing. As ethnic tension exploded into all-out war, more than 16,000 refugees, mainly Hema, fled to the safety of neighbouring Uganda. Another 9,000 are camped out at Bunia's airport and a nearby UN compound. The survivors are bringing horrific tales of atrocities. They say tribal warriors killed civilians, then cut open their chests and ate their victims' hearts, livers and lungs. The fighters are also said to have paraded through ransacked neighbourhoods wearing the intestines of their victims wrapped around their heads as magical headdresses to ward off evil spirits. The sudden surge in violence has triggered warnings of a possible genocide and sent UN officials scrambling to find a way to defuse the crisis. The United Nations is mindful of its disastrous involvement in Rwanda in 1994. The UN Security Council ordered Canadian Armed Forces General Romeo Dallaire to withdraw UN troops from the country just as ethnic Hutu militias launched a genocide that killed almost one million people in 100 days of violence. Yesterday, an eight-man French military reconnaissance team arrived in Bunia to investigate the possibility of deploying a major UN military mission. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, has asked France to lead an international force to stabilize eastern Congo and is urging 20 other countries, including Canada, to support or contribute troops to the force. France has said it could provide a battalion of up to 1,000 troops, while South Africa and defence ministers from the European Union have said they will consider the request. Canada has said it is still studying the feasibility of deploying troops. Allegations of cannibalism have constantly hung over the conflict in eastern Congo, with local missionaries reporting that victims of the tribal fighting are frequently mutilated, their sexual organs cut off for use in black magic. Superstitious beliefs, ethnic hatreds and a desire to settle old scores, as well as claims over disputed lands, have fuelled a conflict that human rights groups say has already killed about 50,000 people and left up to 120,000 others homeless. A ceasefire signed by warring ethnic militias and the Congolese government in Tanzania last Friday brought only a brief lull in the fighting, during which Red Cross workers entered Bunia and removed up to 230 corpses from the streets. The death toll could rise as aid workers search other parts of the city and travel to outlying rural areas. UN officials say they will launch an investigation into the latest allegations of cannibalism. The reports "cannot be so persistent and false," Amos Namanga Ngongi, head of the UN mission in Congo, told reporters in Bunia. "There cannot be so much talk of such things if it is false." Four months ago, another UN investigation confirmed claims that rebels of the Congolese Liberation Movement and the allied Congolese Rally for Democracy-National had engaged in cannibalism, rape, torture and murder in Ituri late last year. Further allegations of cannibalism emerged after up to 1,000 people were massacred on April 3 near Drodro, about 32 kilometres northeast of Bunia. pgoodspeed@nationalpost.com © Copyright 2003 National Post