Lendu Kill 250 Hema in 3 Hours
Jun 01, 2003
EIGHT hours after the 53rd Battalion of the UPDF pulled out of the Congolese town of Tchomia, Lendu militias backed by some elements of the Kinshasa government army massacred a total of 253 Hema militias on Saturday
By Emmy Allio
EIGHT hours after the 53rd Battalion of the UPDF pulled out of the Congolese town of Tchomia, Lendu militias backed by some elements of the Kinshasa government army massacred a total of 253 Hema militias on Saturday.
The dead included 57 children aged below 10 years. Twenty-seven of the dead were patients in Tchomia Hospital who were slaughtered in their beds.
Hema chiefs said the killing and pillage took only three hours.
“We are not burying the dead until the United Nations observer team comes from Bunia to see what Kinshasa soldiers and Lendu militias have done to the Hema,†Kisembo Bitamara, the Hema paramount chief for South Bahema, said.
He said, “The Hema are dying because the Hema are stopping Congolese president Joseph Kabila and Mbusa Nyamwisi from accessing the oil deposits at Kasenyi and Tchomia.â€
He said Heritage oil and gas company which signed the oil deal was itching to start drilling the oil which is in the area that is occupied by the Hema.
UPDF sources said President Yoweri Museveni’s military assistant, Brig. Kale Kaihura, is in Kasenyi to ensure that the entire 53rd battalion pulls out by end of the week.
The UPDF, who were trailed by over 10,000 Hema civilians from Bunia, left Tchomia and Kasenyi on Friday and Saturday respectively.
Kisembo said the attackers descended from the Salama na Bibi mountains.
He said they attacked the Lake Albert shore town at around 5:00am, but were repulsed after a three-hour battle.
Uganda security sources said the Tchomia incident should be a warning to the international community that worse things could happen in Ituri.
Tchomia and Kasenyi are controlled by the Party for Unity and Safeguard of Integrationists in Congo (PUSIC) which is led by Chief Kawa Mandro Panga.
Kisembo, speaking on a satellite phone link from Tchomia, said 22 members of chief Kawa’s family were killed.
He said 12 of the attackers were also killed.
Sources said over 20 PUSIC soldiers were killed, among them a commander identified as Kisembo.
PUSIC and Thomas Lubanga’s Union for Patriotic Congolese Union (UPC) have condemned the presence of the 3,000 Kinshasa soldiers in the southern parts of Ituri where they control the town of Komanda and part of Ituri.
Diplomatic sources yesterday said DRC leader Joseph Kabila was under pressure to withdraw his army from Ituri.
In April, Lendu militias massacred about 933 Hema civilians in Drodro, southeast of Bunia town.
This prompted United Nations to order investigations in order to hunt the killers.
In the ugly power game in Ituri, three factions of the Rwanda-backed UPC, Kinshasa-backed Lendu militias and PUSIC who are sympathetic to Uganda, are now sharing Bunia town.
France and Britain have pledged troops to the international peacekeeping force to be deployed this week in Ituri.
The United Nations peacekeeping force, MONUC, has failed to contain the situation, which has continued to worsen since the UPDF withdrew from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Over 100,000 Hema have taken refuge in western Uganda.
EIGHT hours after the 53rd Battalion of the UPDF pulled out of the Congolese town of Tchomia, Lendu militias backed by some elements of the Kinshasa government army massacred a total of 253 Hema militias on Saturday.
The dead included 57 children aged below 10 years. Twenty-seven of the dead were patients in Tchomia Hospital who were slaughtered in their beds.
Hema chiefs said the killing and pillage took only three hours.
“We are not burying the dead until the United Nations observer team comes from Bunia to see what Kinshasa soldiers and Lendu militias have done to the Hema,†Kisembo Bitamara, the Hema paramount chief for South Bahema, said.
He said, “The Hema are dying because the Hema are stopping Congolese president Joseph Kabila and Mbusa Nyamwisi from accessing the oil deposits at Kasenyi and Tchomia.â€
He said Heritage oil and gas company which signed the oil deal was itching to start drilling the oil which is in the area that is occupied by the Hema.
UPDF sources said President Yoweri Museveni’s military assistant, Brig. Kale Kaihura, is in Kasenyi to ensure that the entire 53rd battalion pulls out by end of the week.
The UPDF, who were trailed by over 10,000 Hema civilians from Bunia, left Tchomia and Kasenyi on Friday and Saturday respectively.
Kisembo said the attackers descended from the Salama na Bibi mountains.
He said they attacked the Lake Albert shore town at around 5:00am, but were repulsed after a three-hour battle.
Uganda security sources said the Tchomia incident should be a warning to the international community that worse things could happen in Ituri.
Tchomia and Kasenyi are controlled by the Party for Unity and Safeguard of Integrationists in Congo (PUSIC) which is led by Chief Kawa Mandro Panga.
Kisembo, speaking on a satellite phone link from Tchomia, said 22 members of chief Kawa’s family were killed.
He said 12 of the attackers were also killed.
Sources said over 20 PUSIC soldiers were killed, among them a commander identified as Kisembo.
PUSIC and Thomas Lubanga’s Union for Patriotic Congolese Union (UPC) have condemned the presence of the 3,000 Kinshasa soldiers in the southern parts of Ituri where they control the town of Komanda and part of Ituri.
Diplomatic sources yesterday said DRC leader Joseph Kabila was under pressure to withdraw his army from Ituri.
In April, Lendu militias massacred about 933 Hema civilians in Drodro, southeast of Bunia town.
This prompted United Nations to order investigations in order to hunt the killers.
In the ugly power game in Ituri, three factions of the Rwanda-backed UPC, Kinshasa-backed Lendu militias and PUSIC who are sympathetic to Uganda, are now sharing Bunia town.
France and Britain have pledged troops to the international peacekeeping force to be deployed this week in Ituri.
The United Nations peacekeeping force, MONUC, has failed to contain the situation, which has continued to worsen since the UPDF withdrew from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Over 100,000 Hema have taken refuge in western Uganda.