Nearly 1,000 Civilians Massacred
By David Mageria | Reuters - April 09, 2003

BUNIA - A Congolese chief, his three young children and wife were slaughtered "like cows" along with 1,000 villagers by rival tribesmen armed with machetes and guns.

'They killed three of my children and my first wife'

On tuesday, United Nations investigators said witnesses had reported that people were shot and hacked to

death in an orgy of violence on Thursday in what may be the worst atrocity in the Democratic Republic of Congo's four-and-a-half-year civil war.

"They slaughtered my people. Slit their throats and slashed many on the head. People were killed like cows," Kpadhingo Londri, a local chief of the Hema tribe, said.

Some villagers fled into the bush and were chased and cut down by the attackers, who he said were militia from the rival Lendu tribe.

"They used guns, machetes, knives, spears, and bows and arrows. They killed three of my young children and my first wife," said Londri, who was not home when the raiders struck.

UN investigators saw about 20 mass graves at the weekend after Thursday's dawn raids on Drodro town and 14 neighbouring villages near Bunia, the capital of Ituri province 80km from the border with neighbouring Uganda.

Much of Ituri is controlled by troops from Uganda, the last foreign state to have soldiers openly in the DRC, although it has pledged to withdraw by April 24.

Uganda is traditionally close to the Hema but its troops have clashed with the Hema-aligned Union of Congolese Patriots, who have accused it of siding with the Lendu and using its militia to contain the Hema.

Uganda has repeatedly tried to downplay the severity of the massacre, putting the death toll at between 350 and 400.

About 50 survivors are in hospital with stab wounds and deep cuts.

"What our people saw were mass graves. Fresh graves," Behrooz Sadry, a senior UN official, said.

He said a local priest had counted 966 bodies.

Ituri province has seen some of the worst atrocities in the DRC's civil war, which began in 1998 when Uganda and Rwanda backed an uprising to overthrow the government in Kinshasa.

Drodro's population is mainly from the Hema tribe. It has been pitted against the Lendu in a conflict that in recent months has drawn in factions from the wider war.

Uganda said yesterday that the UN should do more to keep the peace there. "We have deployed more troops in the area of the massacre, and the situation has calmed down," said Major Shaban Bantariza.

An army official said the main role of Ugandan forces in Ituri was to search for members of a Ugandan rebel group, the People's Redemption Army.

The International Rescue Committee said the war for the DRC's mineral wealth - which at its peak pulled in six foreign armies - had taken 3,3-million lives, more than any other conflict since World War 2.

It said the DRC's fledgling peace process was threatened by new outbreaks of violence.

The Lendu, who number about 700,000 in the area, live primarily from their crops while the Hema, about 150,000 people, rely on both cattle raising and cultivation.

"Jealousy is the reason the Lendu are fighting us. When your neighbour sees you have progressed and you have something they don't have, they get very jealous," said Londri.

An officer from the Union of Congolese Patriots vowed reprisals, but the UN said yesterday there were no reports of fresh violence. Both tribes have gathered in Bunia for peace talks, but they show no signs of ending the hostility.

	News Archive
	Gold Fuels Atrocities June 1, 2005 MUNOC: 59,000 More Troops October 4, 2004 ICC to Probe Congo Crimes June 23, 2004 S.Africa and DRC Boost Ties January 14, 2004 UN Calls for Talks on DRC September 24, 2003 Report: UN Mission in DRC September 16, 2003 Half a Million Hungry August 12, 2003 Nearly 1,000 Massacred April 09, 2003 Congo's Endless Suffering January 24, 2002 Rebels Sign Peace Deal December 17, 2002

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