Congolese Report Cannibalism in Tribal Fighting

[MORTARDUDE]

Congolese Report Cannibalism in Tribal Fighting


THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

May 20, 2003


Bunia, Congo - Reports of cannibalism circulated in troubled northeastern Congo, with terrified witnesses yesterday describing the mutilation and eating of the dead during more than a week of bloody tribal fighting.

Church leaders and residents in Bunia, the capital of the Ituri district, said that Lendu tribal fighters killed civilians and combatants, cutting out and eating various organs.

More than a week of fighting in Bunia subsided Friday after more than 100 people were confirmed killed - though the total toll remains unknown - and thousands fled their homes. The town remained tense.

Frightened residents said they were terrified at the thought of it flaring up again.

"The sight of a corpse with a missing liver and heart is horrific, especially when you know that those parts were eaten by fellow human beings and that the same could happen to you," said Acquitte Kisembo, a 28-year-old medical student. He said he saw several bodies with missing parts.

The United Nations is taking the allegations seriously and plans to investigate the reports of cannibalism, said Amos Namanga Ngongi, head of the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The reports "cannot be so persistent and false," he told reporters in Bunia. "There cannot be so much talk of such things if it is false."

Cannibalism has been reported in past upheavals in Congo, including the 1964 Simba rebellion and previously in the current civil war that has torn the Central African nation apart since 1998. Such attacks are often fueled by a mix of tribal hatreds and a desire to spread terror in the region. There is also a belief among some that eating one's foes is a source of power.

Reports of cannibalism are also not new to Ituri, a resource-rich region of which Bunia is the capital. The region has been plagued by massacres and killings as rival tribal and rebel factions have fought for control over the past 4 1/2 years of war.

A cease-fire was signed Friday and the United Nations is trying to assemble an international force to augment more than 750 UN soldiers from Uruguay already there.