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Un finds mass congo grave { April 8 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/04/08/congo.graves/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/04/08/congo.graves/index.html Tuesday, April 8, 2003 Posted: 12:18 PM EDT (1618 GMT) U.N. finds Congo mass grave KINSHASA, Congo (CNN) --United Nations investigators said Tuesday they had found 15 mass graves holding 300 bodies, the remains of last week's massacre of more than 950 civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Survivors told CNN most of the victims -- who included many children -- were members of the Hema ethnic group, attacked last Thursday morning by their Lendu neighbors firing guns and wielding machetes. The massacre in and around the Roman Catholic parish of Drodro, near the Uganda border, took place days after warring Congolese factions signed a political settlement to end several years of conflict. "Nearly 1,000 dead -- I cannot remember a time when so many were killed in such a short space of time," Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the U.N. force in Congo (MONUC) told Reuters. It is the worst single atrocity investigated by the U.N. since the civil war started four-and-a-half years ago, said another U.N. spokesman, Manodje Mounouba. (Chronology) "The attack started with a whistle blow and lasted between five and eight hours," he told The Associated Press from Kinshasa, Congo's capital. U.N. military observers visited the area Saturday and spoke to witnesses, survivors and local leaders, Mounoubai said. Ituri has seen some of the most vicious fighting of the war as rival tribal fighters, rebel factions and Ugandan troops have fought over land and resources. On Saturday a Congolese rebel leader, Thomas Lubanga, accused Ugandan troops and allied Congolese tribal fighters of carrying out the slaughter. Lubanga, who is head of the rebel Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), said Ugandan troops and Lendu tribal fighters used mortars, small arms and machetes to attack three towns in Ituri, killing 942 people. Ugandan military spokesman Capt. Felix Kulayigye denied that any Ugandan troops were involved in the massacre. An aid worker and a tribal leader in Bunia, however, said Ugandan forces were in the area when civilians were killed. They could not say whether the troops took part. Witnesses told investigators that some of the assailants were speaking Kilendu, the Lendus' tribal language, while others spoke Kiswahili, the lingua franca in eastern Congo, Mounoubai said. Most Ugandan soldiers also speak Kiswahili. The UPC draws its support from the Hema tribe that has traditionally fought with the Lendu for control of land and other resources. The UPC and Ugandan troops have been fighting since Ugandan forces drove the rebels from Bunia, the main town in the province, four weeks ago. The latest war in Congo broke out in August 1998 when Rwanda and Uganda sent troops to back rebels seeking to oust then-President Laurent Kabila. They accused him of backing insurgents threatening regional security. Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia sent troops to back Kabila, splitting the country into rebel- and government-held areas. Most foreign troops withdrew after a series of peace deals, but fighting among rival rebel factions, tribal fighters and Ugandan troops has continued in eastern and northeastern Congo. Uganda had backed the UPC, but relations have soured in recent months after the rebels demanded the withdrawal of Ugandan troops. The UPC is now backed by Rwanda. Since the war began, the Congolese rebels have split into more than a dozen factions. Uganda, which has more than 2,500 troops in Ituri, and Rwanda back rival groups. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/04/08/congo.graves/index.html SAVE THIS | EMAIL THIS | Close Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article.

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