The Watcher forwards some disturbing news about the Congo:
The Dead Zone
French-led forces will be limited to “protecting” Bunia for 3 months, while all kinds of hell get unleashed everywhere else in the Congo. In fact, Hema militiamen defiantly operate a death camp right there in a suburb of Bunia… where people get slaughtered every night, virtually on the doorsteps of the French. The Daily Telegraph has a terrifying account of someone who barely managed to escape this death camp. This man, his father, and several others were all made to lie down in a mass grave… on top of the semi-buried corpses of previous victims. Then the militiamen stabbed each person in turn with bayonets, while taunting their victims with things like this: “Call the French, tell them to set you free.” After seeing his father, neighbor, and a close friend all murdered before him… the last person to be stabbed somehow managed to survive and escape: “…they stabbed him through his chin, throat, hands, chest and torso and he lost consciousness. But while the soldiers were away finding clothes to cover the bodies, he came to and managed to crawl into nearby bushes and then fled.”
Update: Merde in France has a link to a Miami Herald article describing what led up to the brutal murders of two UN “peacekeepers” in the Congo. Apparently, these two unarmed men had begged their UN superiors for almost a week to come rescue them. These terrified men had been receiving death threats, but the UN felt it was to risky to send a helicopter to pick them up… not wanting to concede the failure of the UN mission was probably also a factor. The UN shouldn’t have been surprised when the mutilated corpses of these two men were found: “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.” Unfortunately, the mutilation didn’t end there.
If you have anything regarding the Congo I have missed, please e-mail me and I will link it up ASAP.
BTW- Gary Farber was right. The current UN force in the Congo is a cruel joke.
Sal
Scroll down the right side to hear for French news to Africa(in english), I am sure they will say something you can snark at….
rfi.fr/fichiers/Langues/rfi_anglais_main.asp
seriously, they give the best reports on what is going on I have found. Very confused and sounds like very undermanned, so far.
Sal
Do keep in mind when they give their opinions they base them on the news of the real world not on FOX’s republican advertisment and some flag waving.