[lbo-talk] DR Congo massacre investigation

Diane Monaco diane.monaco at emich.edu
Tue Apr 13 08:46:24 PDT 2004


[Also, Rwandan President Paul Kagame urged the UN to disarm the rebel insurgents that have crossed over into DR Congo who he says are the same rebels involved in the 1994 massacre in Rwanda (the Tutsi took power ending the massacre of nearly one million people -- mostly tutsi -- while Hutu extremist groups escaped to DR Congo). Tribal armed militias and the Congolese Rally for Democracy within DR Congo appear to be involved as well. Two articles below, Diane]

************************************************************* 13/04/2004 UN to step up Congo massacre investigation AFP

The United Nations says it would send more investigators to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after bodies were found in shallow graves near the site of a reported massacre.

Reports that at least 25 people had been killed in three days of carnage in the village of Lukweti last month are followed by the discovery of the corpses in the past few days.

Spokeswoman Jacqueline Chenard says the bodies are "coming out of the mud" in Lukweti, north-east of Goma in the province of North Kivu.

The discovery comes after what she describes as a rebel attack in which around 150 homes were also burned down.

The UN says the attackers have been variously identified as rebels involved in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, tribal militias allied with the previous DRC government and partisans of the main rebel movement, the Congolese Rally for Democracy.

Additional investigators will head to the Lukweti region next week.

***************************************** 13/04/2004 Tension between bitterly opposed ethnic groups in northeastern DRC remains high By Francois-Xavier Harispe AFP

Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo - Tension between bitterly opposed ethnic groups in northeastern DRC remains high as the United Nations force there anxiously grapples with the problem of thousands of armed militia waiting to be disarmed.

About 15 000 combatants - including 600 children - in the volatile Ituri province are twiddling their thumbs in holding camps without any aid while the Kinshasa authorities decide their future.

"They are beginning to get restless, and of course survive by extortion activities in nearby communities," one UN official from the mission in the DRC (Monuc) said.



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