Posted on 02/25/2005 6:00:21 AM PST by propertius
UPDATE 2-At least 8 UN soldiers killed in Congo-UN sources (recasts with death toll)
KINSHASA, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Militiamen killed at least eight United Nations peacekeepers in an attack on a patrol in eastern Congo on Friday, U.N. sources in the country said.
"There are at least eight dead and some still missing," one U.N. source told Reuters. A second U.N. source confirmed the death toll.
Kemal Saiki, a spokesman for the U.N. mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said the attack took place on Friday morning in the mineral-rich Ituri district, where the U.N. has deployed 4,800 peacekeepers.
"There have been casualties in the U.N. forces, including some fatalities," he said, but could not give further details.
The U.N. force in Ituri is made up of four contingents of 850 soldiers each from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Morocco and Nepal.
The district is one of Congo's worst troublespots, where ethnic militias have killed 50,000 civilians since 1999.
The former Zaire is struggling to recover from a wider five-year war that at one stage sucked in six neighbouring countries and, according to an international aid agency, has killed nearly 4 million people.
About one third of the world's biggest U.N. peacekeeping mission is based in Ituri but attacks on civilians remain frequent. Clashes between militia during the last two months alone have displaced some 70,000 civilians, aid workers say.
Maybe the Congolese were upset that the UN "peacekeepers" were raping their children and finally decided to strike back?
I forget--who am I rooting for here?
My thoughts exactly.
Is STEVE HARRIGAN (of Fox news) still in the Congo?????
The only element missing from this adventure is the reappearance of a few hundred Belgian Mercenaries.
That guy sure had gloomy and dire predictions of the Election in Iraq..."It's going to be a bloodbath."
He should have stayed home a bit longer...being in a war zone for 2 years must have its negative effects.
Perhaps. This is Hema Lendu territory, perhaps the most savage in the whole of Congo. Six European Red Cross workers were hacked to death in the area a few years ago. Two Uruguayan peacekeepers were also murdered last year after being tortured. Their innards were eaten.
Nasty place. I was in the town of Bunia when it was taken by a militia of cannibals. They would wonder around with human livers strung onto necklaces...
Where they are ordered, from Belgium, not to defend themselves, and to tell the "Enemy" that they will never use force (Like what happened in Rwanda?)
That may be true. However, the chances that the people they killed were actually the rapists were in any way responsible for the rapes is pretty low.
I'm not trying to criticize the Congolese for fighting an oppressive armed force on their soil.
I'm just pointing out that a peace keeping force with corruption problems makes for a real mess where it's hard for the people there to find justice.
The UN needs to hold it's peacekeepers accountable and clean up their mess. If they don't aggressively do that, then they aren't peacekeepers, their an oppressive occupying force.
What obn earth were you doing there, and why were you spared?
Too bony?
I'm not perfectly up to date on this particular UN depravity. Was it the peacekeepers that were raping children? My understanding was that it wasn't so much the troops sent by countries as the UN officials themselves. Am I wrong?
I wouldnt think a liver would make much of a necklace. How a heart pendant , that would be ok.
...
Through sixty-six and seven they fought the Congo war
With their fingers on their triggers, knee-deep in gore
For days and nights they battled the Bantu to their knees
They killed to earn their living and to help out the Congolese
Warren Zevon - Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
It was one of the UN officers, IIRC. He may have raped up to a 100 children. They were rounded up by a local village woman. Really horrible. They ought to be allowed to execute him--and her too.
He wrote this on his FNC blog, but I don't read that as "it's going to be a bloodbath."
I was doing political consultancy work. We managed to get to the UN base in the town. Bullets and mortars were being fired into the compound. The Uruguayan peacekeepers cowered in terror, lying on the floor, many in tears. They were ordered not to return fire even though refugees in the compound were being killed.
During the previous weeks they had done nothing to stop civilians being killed in front of them, often in the most brutal way, claiming they had no mandate. But even when they were being targeted themselves they still did nothing...
The French, whatever you may think of them, sent in theif foreign legion and special forces. Though they turned a blind eye to some atrocities they shot dead some of the rebels when they mockingly raised their rifles towards French positions. The problem quickly stopped. But the French stayed just three months and then left and so the troubles have started again...
How does this compare in severity to the attack on the UN that made them high-tail it out of Iraq? I remember the UN saying they couldn't stay in Iraq because of the security situation.
Apologies for my apparent density...but that term seems contradictory to me. The 'officers' implies that they were military, and thus from the member countries, not the UN itself. The UN implies they were what I would call UN officials..not troops from member countries. Can you clarify which?
Typical of the UN...Not only do they order their troops to "never return fire" they tell tehm to tell the trouble makers that they won't fight back either.
The appeasement mentality of the UN and the Left leads to genocide.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.