Posted on 05/12/2003 7:10:26 AM PDT by dead
Wielding machetes and rocket-launchers, hordes of tribal warriors and children have marauded through the Democratic Republic of Congo town of Bunia, unleashing an orgy of killing and forcing tens of thousands of terrified refugees across the Ugandan border.
United Nations officials have warned the Security Council that the crisis was potentially a genocide in the making, drawing parallels with Rwanda, where between 500,000 and 1 million people, mainly Tutsis, were killed by Hutus in 1994.
"Bunia is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe," Fred Eckhard, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said on Sunday.
As the situation spiralled out of control, international humanitarian organisations evacuated 50 aid workers and their families from the town.
Reports from UN officials and aid workers said Uruguayan peacekeepers returned fire after gunmen believed to be from the Lendu ethnic group lobbed mortars at thousands of residents, mainly of the Hema tribe, seeking refuge in the UN compound.
There were no details about casualties, although two UN soldiers were said to be wounded. With only 600 troops in Bunia, a town of about 350,000 in the east of the war-ravaged country, the UN has been unable to control the deteriorating situation.
South African President Thabo Mbeki is expected to ask Mr Annan this week to extend the peacekeepers' mandate to allow them to return fire if civilians come under attack.
Lendu warriors reportedly smashed their way into a church and massacred 40 Hemas cowering inside.
In a separate incident Father Raphael Ngoma, a Catholic priest who played a key role in revealing the massacres of hundreds of people in the nearby town of Drodro last month, was found murdered in a diocesan house where he was in hiding.
Matters could be even worse elsewhere in Ituri province, where Lendu and Hema are struggling for supremacy after the withdrawal of Ugandan troops two weeks ago.
At least 50,000 civilians have been killed in the province in ethnic violence fanned by Uganda which, with Rwanda, invaded Congo in 1998 to try to topple dictator Laurent Kabila.
Uganda has exploited tribal differences between Hema and Lendu, successively arming both tribes. The subsequent instability provided "justification" for the continued presence of its troops in the mineral-rich province.
South African President Thabo Mbeki is expected to ask Mr Annan this week to extend the peacekeepers' mandate to allow them to return fire if civilians come under attack.
So they are not currently authorized to shoot people killing civilians?
Why are they called “peacekeepers” then?
Are these tribesman acting in a unilateral manner?
What does Chirac say about this?
I have so many questions.
Sounds like the Ugandans are going to let them kill each other off, then move in and mop up...ummmm 'establish peace in the area'. For the mineral wealth..... ummmm, strictly humanitarian reasons, of course.
Are these tribesman acting in a unilateral manner?
What does Chirac say about this?
What will Kofi do, besides wait for Chirac to instruct him? It is a puzzlement. There is enormous mineral wealth in Congo, certainly enough to tempt Chirac, but would even the greedy French want to try to extract it? A food for minerals program would be in order, except that the killers have a taste for eating the killed.
The Congo should be show-cased, along with Bosnia, as prime examples of U.N. peace-keeping.
I know this is confusing to some. The existing UN resolution does not prohibit but does discourage, Hutus from buthchering Tutsis and vice-versa. The existing resolution does not do the same for the members of the Lendu and and Hema tribes and that is the major debate now raging at the General Assembly.
The Lords of the Thrid World, France esepicially, don't "give a s**t about a bunch of non-French savages [said with the usual snotty French attitude] and they have no oil rights owned by a company with family relations to Herr Chirac." They have refused to act until they can firgure some way to blame America or get the usual large bribes and under the table payoffs.
Where are the anti-war protestors?
Their busy preparing their “Bush=Hitler” signs in case he actually does something to stop this.
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.