08/10/2003

Up to 65 people 'massacred' in Congo

The UN peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported that it has discovered 65 bodies, mostly children, in what appears to have been a massacre over the weekend.

A unit from the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC), alerted by local combatants, found 23 bodies in a local church and the others in a mass grave. Most of the dead were children. Some 20 other people were wounded and are being treated in local hospitals.

From the evidence gathered so far, the UN believes that a group of Lendu, believed to be from nearby villages, armed with rifles and machetes, attacked a settlement called Katchele early in the morning.

MONUC has sent a contingent of Pakistani soldiers to Katchele to investigate the massacre and search for weapons.

Two weeks ago, Secretary-General Kofi Annan praised “positive developments” in the DRC, including the establishment of a Government of National Unity and Transition. He had convened a meeting of the leaders of countries in the region, who pledged to work together for peace.

(gmcg)

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