Priests Killed In Bunia
May 11, 2003
KIGALI, Sunday — Two priests were among 14 people massacred on Saturday in ethnic violence in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town of Bunia, a UN worker there told AFP.
KIGALI, Sunday — Two priests were among 14 people massacred on Saturday in ethnic violence in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town of Bunia, a UN worker there told AFP.
“We went to Nyakasunza parish, just outside the centre of the town. Lendu (the majority ethnic group) fighters had attacked at about 2:00 pm. What we saw was really disgusting,†a local employee of the UN military mission in DRC, MONUC, said in a telephone interview.
He said he saw the bodies of two priests, Fathers Aime and Francis Mateseso, the first with his throat cut in his bedroom, the other shot in the garden and “about a dozen other bodies in the parish hall.â€
“The Lendu fighters who had attacked were still there, over-excited, drugged up and determined to do battle,†added the MONUC employee.
“After killing the people they ransacked and looted the parish,†he said.
Tribal militia armed with spears and guns fought in the streets as the UN warned that the volatile region was on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe.
“Fighting is going on right now and the situation is very tense,†a UN official said on phone.
Fighting in Bunia, Ituri’s capital, erupted on Wednesday, the day after the last Ugandan soldiers left the town.
Humanitarian sources said the policemen who arrived in Bunia quickly sold their weapons to Lendu fighters.
The Congo minister whose plane was diverted to Entebbe said he would try “to persuade the different armed groups to withdraw outside the townâ€.
He said he had met representatives of the different Ituri armed groups while in Kampala.
AFP
“We went to Nyakasunza parish, just outside the centre of the town. Lendu (the majority ethnic group) fighters had attacked at about 2:00 pm. What we saw was really disgusting,†a local employee of the UN military mission in DRC, MONUC, said in a telephone interview.
He said he saw the bodies of two priests, Fathers Aime and Francis Mateseso, the first with his throat cut in his bedroom, the other shot in the garden and “about a dozen other bodies in the parish hall.â€
“The Lendu fighters who had attacked were still there, over-excited, drugged up and determined to do battle,†added the MONUC employee.
“After killing the people they ransacked and looted the parish,†he said.
Tribal militia armed with spears and guns fought in the streets as the UN warned that the volatile region was on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe.
“Fighting is going on right now and the situation is very tense,†a UN official said on phone.
Fighting in Bunia, Ituri’s capital, erupted on Wednesday, the day after the last Ugandan soldiers left the town.
Humanitarian sources said the policemen who arrived in Bunia quickly sold their weapons to Lendu fighters.
The Congo minister whose plane was diverted to Entebbe said he would try “to persuade the different armed groups to withdraw outside the townâ€.
He said he had met representatives of the different Ituri armed groups while in Kampala.
AFP