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| Africa: Subsaharan |
| UN troops were tortured |
| 2005-03-03 |
| CAPTAIN Shahid Ashraf Khan and his team of 20 Bangladeshi peacekeepers were patrolling the foothills that rise above Lake Albert last Friday morning when they heard a wild shout in Congolese. Then a loud whistle. Then the rattle of gunfire. "We are encircled," Captain Khan shouted into his radio. "Bring the helicopters. One of my men has been shot." His colleagues manning the base in the town of Kafe, a few kilometres away, then listened with horror as Captain Khan started reciting verses from the Koran that are usually read out when somebody is about to die. Reinforcements were called to help the patrol, but it was too late. Nine peacekeepers were killed in the worst attack on UN forces in Africa since the Rwandan genocide in 1994. And as the bodies were returned yesterday to Bangladesh details of their horrific deaths began to emerge. UN troops in Kafe said the bodies had been mutilated by the time they were recovered. Captain Khan, who was 30 and engaged to be married, had his eyes gouged out. The eight other members of his platoon had been stripped naked. Some had been shot at close range. Others had deep cuts to their knees, thighs and backs. One man had his head sliced open and his brains spilt out, according to one of the soldiers who helped to move the bodies. "They were definitely tortured," said Lieutenant-Colonel Shahid Ul-Islam, acting head of the Kafe base. "It may have been after they were dead but we think it may have happened while they were still alive." The attackers, who numbered more than 100, fled into the bush. The UN responded by launching a massive hunt for militia gangs, using helicopters supported by armoured vehicles on the ground. Their efforts yielded fruit yesterday when one rebel leader was arrested and another turned himself in. Scores of rebels were reported killed in the operation. Etienne Lona, military chief of militia group the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI), surrendered to UN officials while FNI political leader Floribert Ndjabu was arrested by Congolese authorities. The FNI is a militia group from the Lendu tribe that has been terrorising villagers along the shores of Lake Albert for two months. But it has denied any involvement in the killing of the peacekeepers. Two years ago they killed two UN peacekeepers in the same area, covering them with cigarette burns and cutting off their penises. But Friday's attack raises questions about whether the UN mission has sufficient military strength and political backing to bring peace to a region where 1000 people are dying each day from violence, disease and malnutrition. The Bangladeshi peacekeepers were sent to Kafe, in the northeast province of Ituri, in January to help to protect more than 10,000 people who had gathered to escape the fighting between the FNI and a rival militia from the Hema tribe. Situated on a strip of land between mountains and Lake Albert, Kafe is highly vulnerable to attack. |
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #1 The calculation of whether or not (probably not) there are enough UN troops there changes if they actually start acting like soldiers instead of playground monitors. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-03-03 10:54:07 PM |