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U.N.: Rebels guilty of torture, murder, cannibalism
Wednesday, January 15, 2003 Posted: 4:15 PM EST (2115 GMT)
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) -- A U.N. investigation confirmed systematic cannibalism, rape, torture and killing by rebels in a horrifying campaign of atrocities against civilians in the forests of northeast Congo, with children among the victims, U.N. authorities said Wednesday.
Accused rebel groups include the Congolese Liberation Movement of Jean-Pierra Bemba, one of two key insurgent movements now promised a leading role in Congo's government under a hard-won power-sharing agreement to end the central African nation's war.
Rebels called their terror campaign "Operation Clean the Slate," said Patricia Tome, spokeswoman for the U.N. Congo mission based in the capital, Kinshasa.
"The operation was presented to the people almost like a vaccination campaign, envisioning the looting of each home and the rape of each woman," Tome said.
The charges are laid out in a preliminary report based on a six-day mission by U.N. investigators last week to remote Ituri province. The investigation was prompted by outcries by clergy and non-profit groups operating in the province.
The findings have been given to the U.N. Security Council and to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"In point of fact, there is a war in the east of the country, and we are doing everything we can in order to calm the situation," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in New York. "My envoys and the human rights experts have confirmed that there have indeed been violations, and we are in the midst of drafting a report to determine what to do."
The U.N. high commissioner for human rights urged Congolese authorities to bring the culprits to justice.
"Impunity must be banished from Congo," said High Commissioner Sergio Vieira de Mello, visiting Kinshasa.
As word of the allegations emerged, Bemba announced Tuesday that the rebel group had arrested five of its own members, including its chief of operations in Ituri province, Lt. Col. Freddy Ngalimo.
Bemba said the five would be tried by a rebel military court.
"Those people we have arrested have been implicated in rapes, in thefts, and other complaints. Our inquiry has not yielded to us any information concerning the alleged cannibalism," Bemba said.
The allegations named Bemba's movement and the allied Congolese Rally for Democracy-National rebel movement, which are fighting the rival rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation for mineral-rich areas of Ituri province.
A series of peace deals secured the withdrawal of most foreign troops last year in Congo's war, which split Congo into rebel- and government-held zones. Despite the peace accords, fighting among the rebel groups intensified in the lawless east intensified at the end of 2002.
U.N. investigators said the attacks occurred at Mambasa and Mangina, 50 kilometers (30 miles) and 70 kilometers (45 miles) from the northeast city of Beni.
The report cited 117 instances of arbitrary executions in one four-day period alone, between Oct. 24 and 29. It cited 65 cases of rape, including the rape of children, 82 kidnappings and 27 cases of torture in the same period.
"The testimony given by victims and of witnesses was of cannibalism and forced cannibalism," including people made by rebels to eat members of their own family, Tome said.
Atrocities found by investigators include the removal and consumption of hearts of infants, small girls killed and mutilated, "people executed alive before the members of their families, and the rape of children," Tome said.
U.N. investigators previously have reported that the targets of cannibalism also included Pygmies, whom rebels routinely enlist as hunters to provide food for the insurgents. The district's lead Catholic cleric, Monsignor Melchisedec Sikuli Paluku, earlier told The Associated Press and others of rebels forcing cannibalism upon Pygmies, central Africa's oldest tribe.
Investigators said they went into the bush to interview Pygmies who had gone deep into hiding.
Authorities have not specified a motive for the alleged rebel terror campaign, but the east has seen frequent attacks on villages by rebels that believe locals are supporting a rival rebel group.
Belief in magic is believed to have played a role in the alleged cannibalism. Fighters and others often believe that consuming parts of human bodies gives them special powers.
Bemba led a Uganda-backed rebel movement during Congo's war, which aid groups killed 2.5 million people -- mostly through disease and famine gravely aggravated by the fighting.
Bemba is due to meet Thursday with Vieira de Mello, who is visiting Congo as international authorities try to push along peace.
Congo's government, rebels and political opposition signed a landmark accord in December to share power in an interim government meant to lead the country into democracy. The accord gives Bemba's group key ministries. A Rwanda-backed rebel movement is also in the deal.
The report from Ituri province is not the first time Bemba's fighters have been accused of preying on civilians.
Residents in the area of northwest Congo under his control spoke of deep hunger because of stealing by Bemba's fighters.
In the Central African Republic late last year, civilians alleged Bemba's forces were looting and raping at will. Bemba's movement had gone to Central African Republic, neighboring Congo, to help the president there put down a coup attempt.
U.N.: Rebels guilty of torture, murder, cannibalism
Wednesday, January 15, 2003 Posted: 4:15 PM EST (2115 GMT)
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) -- A U.N. investigation confirmed systematic cannibalism, rape, torture and killing by rebels in a horrifying campaign of atrocities against civilians in the forests of northeast Congo, with children among the victims, U.N. authorities said Wednesday.
Accused rebel groups include the Congolese Liberation Movement of Jean-Pierra Bemba, one of two key insurgent movements now promised a leading role in Congo's government under a hard-won power-sharing agreement to end the central African nation's war.
Rebels called their terror campaign "Operation Clean the Slate," said Patricia Tome, spokeswoman for the U.N. Congo mission based in the capital, Kinshasa.
"The operation was presented to the people almost like a vaccination campaign, envisioning the looting of each home and the rape of each woman," Tome said.
The charges are laid out in a preliminary report based on a six-day mission by U.N. investigators last week to remote Ituri province. The investigation was prompted by outcries by clergy and non-profit groups operating in the province.
The findings have been given to the U.N. Security Council and to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"In point of fact, there is a war in the east of the country, and we are doing everything we can in order to calm the situation," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in New York. "My envoys and the human rights experts have confirmed that there have indeed been violations, and we are in the midst of drafting a report to determine what to do."
The U.N. high commissioner for human rights urged Congolese authorities to bring the culprits to justice.
"Impunity must be banished from Congo," said High Commissioner Sergio Vieira de Mello, visiting Kinshasa.
As word of the allegations emerged, Bemba announced Tuesday that the rebel group had arrested five of its own members, including its chief of operations in Ituri province, Lt. Col. Freddy Ngalimo.
Bemba said the five would be tried by a rebel military court.
"Those people we have arrested have been implicated in rapes, in thefts, and other complaints. Our inquiry has not yielded to us any information concerning the alleged cannibalism," Bemba said.
The allegations named Bemba's movement and the allied Congolese Rally for Democracy-National rebel movement, which are fighting the rival rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation for mineral-rich areas of Ituri province.
A series of peace deals secured the withdrawal of most foreign troops last year in Congo's war, which split Congo into rebel- and government-held zones. Despite the peace accords, fighting among the rebel groups intensified in the lawless east intensified at the end of 2002.
U.N. investigators said the attacks occurred at Mambasa and Mangina, 50 kilometers (30 miles) and 70 kilometers (45 miles) from the northeast city of Beni.
The report cited 117 instances of arbitrary executions in one four-day period alone, between Oct. 24 and 29. It cited 65 cases of rape, including the rape of children, 82 kidnappings and 27 cases of torture in the same period.
"The testimony given by victims and of witnesses was of cannibalism and forced cannibalism," including people made by rebels to eat members of their own family, Tome said.
Atrocities found by investigators include the removal and consumption of hearts of infants, small girls killed and mutilated, "people executed alive before the members of their families, and the rape of children," Tome said.
U.N. investigators previously have reported that the targets of cannibalism also included Pygmies, whom rebels routinely enlist as hunters to provide food for the insurgents. The district's lead Catholic cleric, Monsignor Melchisedec Sikuli Paluku, earlier told The Associated Press and others of rebels forcing cannibalism upon Pygmies, central Africa's oldest tribe.
Investigators said they went into the bush to interview Pygmies who had gone deep into hiding.
Authorities have not specified a motive for the alleged rebel terror campaign, but the east has seen frequent attacks on villages by rebels that believe locals are supporting a rival rebel group.
Belief in magic is believed to have played a role in the alleged cannibalism. Fighters and others often believe that consuming parts of human bodies gives them special powers.
Bemba led a Uganda-backed rebel movement during Congo's war, which aid groups killed 2.5 million people -- mostly through disease and famine gravely aggravated by the fighting.
Bemba is due to meet Thursday with Vieira de Mello, who is visiting Congo as international authorities try to push along peace.
Congo's government, rebels and political opposition signed a landmark accord in December to share power in an interim government meant to lead the country into democracy. The accord gives Bemba's group key ministries. A Rwanda-backed rebel movement is also in the deal.
The report from Ituri province is not the first time Bemba's fighters have been accused of preying on civilians.
Residents in the area of northwest Congo under his control spoke of deep hunger because of stealing by Bemba's fighters.
In the Central African Republic late last year, civilians alleged Bemba's forces were looting and raping at will. Bemba's movement had gone to Central African Republic, neighboring Congo, to help the president there put down a coup attempt.
