← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Eendracht Maakt Mag
Thread ID: 7042 | Posts: 8 | Started: 2003-05-31
2003-05-31 22:10 | User Profile
Congo's schoolboy killers excel at murder (Filed: 31/05/2003)
British troops face children trained for war when they join the UN peace-keeping force in Congo authorised yesterday, writes Adrian Blomfield in Bunia
Ten-year-old Alphonse is a valuable asset to his Congolese militia: he obeys orders without question, he enjoys his job and he is meticulous when he murders.
Cradling an AK47 that seemed almost as big as him, he patrolled the shattered streets of Bunia yesterday, convincingly aping the arrogant strut of his adult commanders who seized the town after a bloody battle two weeks ago.
Alphonse, clad in a red beret, camouflage jacket and nylon trousers emblazoned with pink flowers, claims to have excelled himself in the battle, although he refused to reveal the identity of his victims.
"We kill who we are told to by the commander. I shoot them or I cut them like this," he said, drawing a finger across his throat with a chilling laugh before taking a drag from his cigarette.
"I can kill an old man, a woman, a child and even a mzungu [a white person], even you."
Dozens of boys and even the occasional girl, aged anywhere between eight and 18, stalk down Bunia's main thoroughfare, their eyes expressionless, their fingers curled around the triggers of automatic rifles. Known in Congo as the kadogos, or little ones, they are the cannon fodder of both the ethnic Hema militia and their tribal rivals, the Lendu, camped in mountain bases a few miles outside Bunia, where they are preparing a possible counter-attack.
According to Catholic priests in Bunia half the combatants in Ituri, north eastern Congo's most battle-ridden province, are under 15.
Like Alphonse many are orphans, their parents among up to 4.7 million victims who have died in Congo's five-year civil war. Some are abducted and forced into combat. Others volunteer, knowing that it may be their only chance to eat.
The United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef, has tried to take the kadogos off the battlefield and send them to school. Many escape and run back to their militias at the earliest opportunity.
"How can you rehabilitate a child who has been a professional killer?" said a European priest in Bunia. "They have been brainwashed and drugged. They do not know the difference between good and evil."
In the next few weeks a rapid reaction force led by France will arrive in Bunia with an Afghanistan-style mandate authorising the use of force to stop the killing. Britain is expected to contribute anywhere between 200 and 1,000 troops.
Thrown into a hideously brutal and complex war, one of the most difficult dilemmas facing the force will be how to deal with the kadogos. They are among the most bloodthirsty of the combatants.
The mandate specifically requires the mission to protect the civilian population but European troops are likely to baulk at the prospect of opening fire on young children.
British troops will confront acts of savagery on both sides. Both the Hema and the Lendu militias have mercilessly slaughtered civilians in Bunia, shooting, hacking or bludgeoning them to death. Cannibalism has been rife.
Florent Nzama, a theology student, was in his bedroom at the seminary behind Bunia's Catholic church when hundreds of Lendu militia men smashed through the door. They dragged men, women and children into the garden and executed everyone who did not speak the Lendu language.
Mr Nzama, who was neither Hema nor Lendu, escaped the killing. "After paying them money I managed to get to my room and put on an army jacket and a beret I had kept just in case," he said. "They thought I was a combatant and so I escaped."
A total of 24 people, including two priests, were killed and an unknown number of women and children were abducted, almost certainly to become sex slaves of the Lendu militiamen.
With the Hemas in control most Lendus have fled Bunia. Unsigned letters circulated through the town yesterday telling those who remained to leave within 48 hours or face execution.
The Red Cross has found 415 bodies, either on the streets, in barely covered mass graves or in pit latrines.
[url=http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F05%2F31%2Fwcong131.xml]http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main....%2Fwcong131.xml[/url]
2003-05-31 23:46 | User Profile
Mzungu is the term for whites used in Kenya. Wonder if the author was embellishing or guessing a bit with some of the facts and dialogue here. Better ask Jayson Blair to look into the veracity of this story.
2003-05-31 23:53 | User Profile
Originally posted by Roy Batty@May 31 2003, 17:46 ** Mzungu is the term for whites used in Kenya. Wonder if the author was embellishing or guessing a bit with some of the facts and dialogue here. Better ask Jayson Blair to look into the veracity of this story. **
I have no reason to doubt its veracity; the word mzungu may be part of a common Bantu lexicon, or a piece of post-colonial slang. In any case, this isn't the first story I've read of children being used as "soldiers" by various African militias-this has also happened in Sierra Leone, Biafra, and Uganda. I'll see if I can dig up any more information on the subject.
2003-05-31 23:54 | User Profile
BTW, Roy, have you ever been to Africa?
2003-06-01 00:19 | User Profile
Yes, I've been to Africa. Interesting and educational, in every sense of both words. BTW, I don't doubt the kids are being used as soldiers. It's the term "mzungu" that made me give the story a double take. The only place I heard that used was in Kenya. And Kenya isn't the Congo.
2003-06-01 05:57 | User Profile
Roy Batty,
The Congo has been overrun by "soldiers" from all over Black Africa. I do not see any problems with a new word, like "mzungu" making it into thier lexicon. I do know large numbers of "soldiers" from Zimbabwe are in the Congo.
2003-06-02 21:09 | User Profile
Faust, that might explain it. While in Kenya, the Kenyans told me it was Swahili for "foreigner" or white. It is actually a word that was picked up from one of the tribes (the Kelenjin I think). Like I said, I have no doubt about the kid soldiers, but I have always been wary of journalists, long before the days of Mr. Blair. While Kenya was fantastic to visit, this was over ten years ago. I hear now that it might not be too wise to go there these days. The attitude(s) from SA, Zimbabwe, etc. are starting to infect the entire continent.
(I went to Africa on a "photo-safari", in case you're wondering what the Hell I was doing there)
2003-06-06 12:49 | User Profile
Drug crazed cannibals terrorize Congo!
Darkest Africa: Drug crazed cannibals terrorize Congo natives and UN workers Lendu MilitiaBUNIA, Congo (Reuters) - High on drugs and war, the militiamen took the Rwandan woman to a public place. There, before a large crowd, they mutilated her, cooked parts of her body and ate them.
[url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20030605_76.html]http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reute...0030605_76.html[/url]
Elizabeth Tebuka was in the crowd in a remote village in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo when the woman was attacked by Lendu militiamen. "They cut her breasts off and grilled them and the heart too," Tebuka said, standing in a ramshackle camp for thousands who have fled fighting in the region. "Then they ate it. And the flesh from her thighs. There were lots of them, I don't know exactly how many because I fled." Catholic priests and foreign aid workers have all confirmed that some Lendu militiamen have been eating their victims' hearts and livers
[url=http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2003/05/48254.php]http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/20...03/05/48254.php[/url]
Two UN soldiers killed and eatan in the Congo [url=http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php?act=ST&f=21&t=8297]http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php...=ST&f=21&t=8297[/url]
Pygmies Eaten By Congo Cannibals [url=http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php?act=ST&f=21&t=8057]http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php...=ST&f=21&t=8057[/url]
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280 Multilated Bodies Found in Eastern Congolese T Comin to yo "hood", soon? [url=http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php?act=ST&f=21&t=7538]http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php...=ST&f=21&t=7538[/url]