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Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2003 3:31 PM
Subject: Museveni's LENDU BOYS demonstrate their "skills" against HEMA's


Fear, hatred overwhelms Congo massacre village

By Dino Mahtani

KATSHELLI, Congo, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Disabled by grief and fear, Kpadhigo Bbulo could not bring himself to retrieve the bodies of his five murdered children from the church where they spent their last, terrifying moments.

"The young men in the village helped get their bodies out, so we could bury them," said the resident of Katshelli village, scene of Democratic Republic of Congo's latest massacre.

The five were among at least 65 people including 40 children, shot and hacked to death on October 6 by in the village in northeastern Ituri region, U.N. officials say.

The bloodshed was the latest episode in a battle between ethnic Hema and Lendu militias for control of the region. The violence has killed more than 50,000 people since 1999.

Last week's killings took place throughout this small settlement including its church, where some of the victims may have fled seeking refuge from their knife and gun-wielding attackers.

Bbulo, 30, who has seven other children, was among a group of 500 survivors who welcomed a joint U.N. and governmental delegation that on Sunday inspected the scene of the rampage.

The delegation, including the head of the U.N. mission in Congo, William Swing, and members of parliament from Ituri promised Katshelli's predominantly Hema population that they would send more troops into Ituri and bring to justice those involved in the massacre.

Villagers say the massacre was carried out by Lendus living a mere six km (four miles away).

U.N. troops took over Ituri's main town of Bunia from a French-led force in September and are mandated to deploy throughout the region, roughly the size of Sierra Leone.

They are part of a wider U.N. force sent to Congo to enforce peace in eastern regions that are still lawless despite the installation of a new power sharing government three months ago.

CHANGES

"New institutions are being put in place to change the direction of things," Olivier Kamitatu, the head of the DRC's national assembly, told the villagers.

"But we the Congolese have to change things for ourselves, in a few years the U.N. will leave Congo."

The government delegation was the first of its kind to visit civilians outside Bunia. Kamitatu later spoke to civilians in Bunia itself, where he showed off the Ituri MPs as proof that different ethnic groups worked together at a national level.

"This is a very significant development that the head of the national assembly should come to Katshelli himself to show the people the sympathy and determination of the new government," said Swing.

Despite the deployment of 120 Pakistani U.N. troops to Bule, five km (three miles) from Katshelli, as well as a platoon that has been left behind in Katshelli itself, anxiety remains.

"Before this there was hatred between us and the Lendus, now this hatred has multiplied. If the U.N. cannot increase security, I won't stay in this village," said Bbulo.

But for other villagers, the U.N. platoon in Katshelli was a reassurance them that they will not be attacked by the same Lendu fighters who killed mostly women and children while their own women and children pillaged the village.

"The fact that the U.N. were here means something, it shows that they care about us and our concerns," said another Katshelli villager, Lombu Magbo, 25.

The U.N. mission is trying to help the transitional government to shepherd Africa's third biggest country to democratic elections in two years time, after a wider war that has cost more than three million lives since 1998.


   
10/12/03 09:06 ET
    
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