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| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| U.N.: Congolese Rebels Practicing Cannibalism |
| 2003-01-08 |
| NAIROBI, Kenya — U.N. investigators have found credible evidence that Congolese rebel troops have killed and eaten pygmies in northeastern Congo, U.N. officials said Wednesday. Everytime you think the human race has hit bottom... During the past week, U.N. human rights investigators have been probing reports of cannibalism in Congo's northeastern Ituri province. Forces of the rebel Congolese Liberation Movement, or MLC, and its allied Congolese Rally for Democracy-National, RCD-N, are accused of killing and eating pygmies living in dense tropical forests. "The U.N. is taking these accusations very seriously and has sent a team of six officials to investigate the accusations and other human rights abuses in the region," said Manodje Mounoubai, spokesman for the U.N. mission in Congo. Speaking by telephone from the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, Mounoubai said he preferred to wait until the investigators had left the area before providing further information. However, other U.N. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators have established that the charges are credible. The two rebel factions often hire Pygmies to hunt food for them in the forests as they concentrate on fighting to oust the rival rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation, or RCD-ML, from mineral-rich areas of Ituri province, a U.N. official familiar with the probe said. If the expert hunters return empty-handed, rebel troops kill and eat them, the official said. Heck of a motivational system. Sudi Alimasi, an official with the rival RCD-ML, said the group began receiving reports of cannibalism more than a week ago from people displaced by fighting. "We hear reports of MLC and RCD-N commanders feeding on sexual organs of Pygmies, apparently believing this would give them strength," Alimasi said by telephone from Kinshasa. "We also have reports of Pygmies being forced to feed on cooked remains of their colleagues." Nearly all foreign troops involved in the war in Congo that broke out in August 1998 have withdrawn, but fighting has intensified among the country's main rebel factions, splinter groups and tribal fighters after the pullout in the east. |
| Posted by:Patrick Phillips |
| #5 JDB: that's priceless... |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-01-08 19:40:04 |
| #4 First Congolese Rebel: "I hate pygmies!" Second Congolese Rebel: "Then just eat the vegetables". (Rim shot) Thank you! Good night & drive safely! |
| Posted by: JDB 2003-01-08 18:43:47 |
| #3 Chilis - Baby back ribs |
| Posted by: anonymous 2003-01-08 18:11:37 |
| #2 Picture this: a Congolese rebel around a campfire sits back with a full belly and contented look on his face, emits a loud belch whilst licking his fingers and exclaims, "mmmmm....them pygmies is mighty fiiiine eatin!" |
| Posted by: Bust-a-gut 2003-01-08 17:28:09 |
| #1 Practice makes perfect. The troops that intervened in the Congo just after independance reported the same thing. Most of these folks aren't even Fourth World level of civilization. These are some of the most primitive and backward people on the planet. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-01-08 13:14:47 |