Boy Soldiers Toting AK-47s Put at Front of Congo's War

Washington Post ^ | 06/14/03 | Emily Wax

[Pikamax]

Boy Soldiers Toting AK-47s Put at Front of Congo's War Prospect of Shooting Children Haunts Peacekeepers

By Emily Wax Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, June 14, 2003; Page A01

BUNIA, Congo -- With his baggy jeans and oversized military fatigues, Eric Mabele patrolled this town with a rifle at his side and a few grenades looped around his belt.

Enemy forces are scattered all around Bunia, eager to fight their way in. Fierce-looking French troops have been storming into town this week to take up peacekeeping duties. But Eric, slouching and taking a sip of beer, said he wasn't scared. At 12 years old, he is an experienced soldier.

[frithguild]

"Fierce-looking French troops..."

Is there such a thing?

Congo observers slaughtered after unanswered pleas
By SUDARSAN RAGHAVAN
Knight Ridder Newspapers


BUNIA, Congo - For six days, two terrified United Nations military observers phoned their superiors - as many as four times a day - begging to be evacuated from their remote outpost in northeastern Congo.
* * *
Their decomposed corpses had been tossed into a canal and covered with dirt, according to those who saw the bodies. They were shot in the eyes. Their stomachs were split open and their hearts and livers were missing. One man's brain was gone.
* * *
[French] Col. Daniel Vollot, the MONUC sector commander in Bunia, said all U.N. employees here work in dangerous, unpredictable conditions and that MONUC isn't responsible for the deaths of Banda and Oran.

"We can't feel guilty," said Vollot. "Certainly, if we had arrived two or three days before, they would be alive. It's difficult, but I don't feel guilty about that."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/6066952.htm

[frithguild]

[backhoe]

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-"Pity About Africa..."--

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

You've just got to LOVE multiculturalism!

[Calpernia]

>>>Their stomachs were split open and their hearts and livers were missing. One man's brain was gone.

What? Gone?

TaRa, check this out.