wfn.org | ACNS3348 Fear of massacres in the Democratic Republic of the

["Anglican Communion News Service" <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3348     |     CONGO     |     13 MARCH 2003

Fear of massacres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

[United Nations Integrated Regional Information Network] Humanitarian
organisations warned of possible massacres of ethnic Hema civilians during
the night after the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) and ethnic Ngiti
and Lendu militias on Thursday stormed Bunia in North Eastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), forcing the Union des patriotes congolais (UPC)
rebel movement that had controlled the city to flee.

Most of Bunia's current residents and soldiers of the UPC belong to the Hema
ethnic group, the people who are primarily involved with the Anglican
Church. Long-standing tension between the Hema on the one hand, and the
Ngiti and Lendu on the other hand, has been punctuated by sporadic fighting
and occasional massacres by one of the other in recent years, fuelled in
large part by economic interests in the region's rich natural resources,
including gold.

Urgent efforts were under way by humanitarian agencies to have UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan's special representative to the DRC, Amos Namanga Ngongi,
ask Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to issue direct orders to his forces
to bring the Lendu militias - reportedly engaging in widespread looting of
the city - under control. The agencies were also calling for the protection
of their goods, property and personnel.

Among locations reported to have been looted was a warehouse storing food
provided by the UN World Food Programme for distribution by Italian NGO
Coopi, as well as the offices of the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs.

"Heavy fighting, including artillery fire, erupted at about six o'clock this
morning, and people have been forced to remain hidden in their homes, unable
to flee," one humanitarian source told IRIN by satellite telephone from
Bunia on Thursday.

"Right now, elements of the UPDF are carrying out cleanup operations of the
city. They appear to have succeeded in chasing the UPC out of the city. We
can now hear gunfire coming from the periphery of the city," the source
added.

IRIN was unable to reach the UPC leader, Thomas Lubanga, by telephone, but
according to Radio Okapi, he has fled Bunia. Fighting between the UPDF and
the UPC broke out last weekend after two UPC soldiers were killed, allegedly
by soldiers of the UPDF.

In an effort to defuse rising tensions between them, the UPC signed an
accord on Sunday with the UPDF, following negotiations between Lubanga and
Brig Kale Kaihura, the chief political commissar of the UPDF. Under the
agreement, the UPDF agreed to withdraw at once from positions it had held
within Bunia, and to remain camped at the city's airport. It also agreed to
open an investigation into the deaths of the two UPC soldiers.

Tension between the UPC and Uganda, its original supporter, began in late
2002 when the rebel militia demanded the immediate withdrawal of all
remaining Ugandan troops from the DRC. The situation took a precipitous turn
for the worse when, on 6 January, the UPC formed an alliance with the
Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Goma rebel
movement, committing the two parties to "cooperate and support each other
mutually in the domains of politics, military, and economy."

___________________________________________________________________

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