966 massacred in Congo (Filed: 07/04/2003) http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/07/wcong07.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/04/07/ixworld.html
Tribal militias massacred 966 civilians with machetes and guns in the north-east of Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday and buried them in mass graves, UN investigators said yesterday. "The investigating team identified 20 mass graves and visited 49 seriously injured people in hospitals," Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the UN mission in Congo said in Kinshasa. Witnesses said the attackers descended on Drodro and 14 neighbouring villages near Bunia, the capital of Ituri district, 50 miles from the border with Uganda. Mr Toure said the UN investigators had talked to local priests, tribal leaders and eyewitnesses who said the killing lasted for three hours. The investigators, who visited Drodro on Saturday, saw evidence of clothing and traces of blood above the mass graves, he said. Shaban Bantariza, a spokesman for the Ugandan army, said he was aware that "hundreds had been killed" in Drodro but was awaiting further information from army representatives who had gone to investigate. Reports of the massacre overshadowed the start of talks on Friday to bring peace to war-ravaged northeastern Congo, organised by the Ituri Pacification Commission which is supported by the Congolese and Ugandan governments. Ethnic clashes in Ituri have killed thousands of people since 1999. The Hema and Lendu tribal militia signed a ceasefire agreement in March to allow the IPC to begin its work, eventually leading to the withdrawal of Ugandan troops from eastern Congo. Residents of Drodro, which is inhabited mainly by the Hema ethnic group, said Thursday's attackers spoke a Lendu language. Local human rights groups say up to 500,000 people have fled their homes and 50,000 more have been killed in the past four years, as rival rebel factions, ethnic militias and the Ugandan army have fought for control of gold-rich Ituri District. The conflict in eastern Congo is part of a wider war which has carved up the country between Kinshasa government and a number of rebel groups. The government, rebels and the opposition signed a deal on Wednesday to create a transitional government, paving the way for elections after 2 and a half years. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <../attachments/20030406/57a22ef1/attachment.htm>