Who in the world is supposed to intervene to prevent this kind of thing????


Death in the Congo: a mother watches as machete militiamen murder her little girls
By Adrian Blomfield in Bunia
(Filed: 30/05/2003)

From her hiding place in the woods outside the Congolese town of Bunia, Ruta Bonabingi watched as militiamen roasted and then ate the severed arms of her dying daughters. It was the horrifying finale to 48 hours of terror for Ruta and her family.

Three weeks after ethnic violence engulfed Bunia and the surrounding Ituri province, crazed gunmen stormed Shar, five miles outside the town. Shooting or hacking to death anyone they came across, they torched every home in the village.

Ruta managed to escape with most of her family, although two of her brothers were killed before they reached safety in the nearby forest.

After pressing deeper into the woods for two days without food and water, she thought she had finally reached safety when out of nowhere the militiamen, from the Lendu tribe, struck again.

With bullets flying everywhere in the hail of gunfire that ensued Ruta became separated from two of her daughters, Mateso, aged 12, and Michelle, who had just turned two.

After securing the rest of her family in another hiding place, Ruta crept back to the clearing to try to rescue the girls.

"There were many people wounded from bullets lying on the ground," she said.

"The Lendu were going about with machetes, chopping off one arm from the shoulder and then the other. Some people were screaming but most were silent. Then I saw them. Their arms had already been cut off."

The militiamen calmly cooked the flesh over an open fire before throwing their victims, some of whom were still alive, into the flames. "They were both moving, although very weakly," Ruta said. It is accounts like this that have galvanised the horrified world into action.

The United Nations Security Council meets today to finalise plans for a rapid reaction force, led by France, which could be in Bunia by as early as next week. Tony Blair has hinted that Britain could send several hundred soldiers to the region later.

The latest violence in one of the Democratic Republic of Congo's bloodiest provinces erupted in the first week of May as Uganda withdrew its troops in compliance with a peace plan to end the five-year war.

Despite the presence of the 700 UN peacekeepers already in Bunia to monitor the withdrawal, rival Hema and Lendu tribesmen fought viciously for supremacy in the town.

The peacekeepers had repeatedly warned the UN that a bloodbath was likely and requested reinforcements.

They were ignored. Lacking the firepower, equipment or mandate to intervene, they retreated powerless to their compound and watched.

No one knows how many have died. The Red Cross has found 415 bodies on the streets or in mass graves, and may just be the tip of the iceberg. There are fears that thousands more were killed in outlying villages. At least 50,000 people have been victims of violence in Ituri since 1998.

The Congo conflict has claimed between 3.1 and 4.7 million lives, mainly from war-related hunger and disease, since it began, making it the world's deadliest war since 1945.

Bunia itself was relatively calm yesterday although an occasional explosion, possibly caused by landmines, rocked the outskirts of the town. Few dared to venture out on to the streets, however. The town is virtually empty after Lendus, who made up the majority of the population, fled into the hills following the Hema capture of the town last week.

Along the town's main street shop doors hung drunkenly from their hinges. Windows on many buildings were smashed, their contents looted. The few establishments that escaped pillaging were firmly shuttered. A Hema boy, aged no more than eight or nine, sauntered down the street dressed in a ridiculously oversized military uniform, his camouflage jacket flapping about his calves.

He disappeared into a building for a moment and re-emerged casually swinging an AK47 from his hip.

A pick-up truck filled with grim-faced Hema soldiers and mounted with a fearsomely large machinegun roared down the street.

At the top of the road, two armoured personnel carriers manned by Uruguayan soldiers guarded the UN compound, barely visible behind 8ft-high protective barriers of razor wire.

Hundreds of Bunia's terrified residents, both Hema and to a lesser extent Lendu, remain in the compound where they fled when the fighting erupted.

Alarmingly, the town's radio station, now in Hema hands, gave warning this week that anyone who did not leave the camp immediately would be treated as "an enemy of state", according to UN officials.

The move has chilling echoes of hate radio during Rwanda's 1994 genocide when broadcasts urged Hutus to fill up the half-empty graves.

Many appear to have heeded the call, but Basara Mateso prefers to take his chances with the UN. He fled to the compound when the Lendu attacked his predominantly Hema suburb two weeks ago.

As he fled, he became separated from two of his seven children. When he ventured back a few hours later he found the bodies of both his teenage daughters, hacked to death with machetes.

"Ngathi was cut across the chest," he said. "Mami's head was missing. Both of them were without their hearts and their livers. Their bellies had been cut open."

Missionaries, Catholic priests and foreign aid workers have all confirmed that some Lendu militiamen have been eating their victims' hearts and livers, apparently in the superstitious belief that it would make them invincible.

Wanna know why America won't get involved in the Congo situation? Because we wouldn't know what to do. Our fighting forces don't know how to heal, only hack. As long as there is no target to drop bombs on, our military is pretty useless, that's about how it seems anyways...

I have no desire to send troops into the Congo any more than i cared to see them sent ti Iraq. I have no desire to get involved in the assinine wars and disputes of retard countries who cant govorn themselves. Somolia cost us, and rwanda was pretty stupid too. Screw the Congo, screw iraq, screw em all, i want the tropps brought home period. No more involve emnt in other country messes.

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
I have no desire to send troops into the Congo any more than i cared to see them sent ti Iraq. I have no desire to get involved in the assinine wars and disputes of retard countries who cant govorn themselves. Somolia cost us, and rwanda was pretty stupid too. Screw the Congo, screw iraq, screw em all, i want the tropps brought home period. No more involve emnt in other country messes.

Unfortunately, US foreign policy helps to create those messes. Just as European foreign policy also does.
You have no choice.
It is your duty to help out.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...........

They're slaughtering themselves, AND OF COURSE, ONCE AGAIN, AS USAL, IT'S OUR FUC*** FAULT !

We are responsible of E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G

Hey, i've an idea. Let's nuke the Russians & the Chicoms.They'll strike back and will destroy us too. Like this, the whole world will be able, finally, to live and peace for ever. No more soooooooooo evil & bads westerners.

Nobody said that you are responsible for everything.

But you have no choice but to take your share of the blame.

The world is run on money. This war, like almost every other is based on that little green bit of paper.
The US is THE major player in the world economy of today.
When you've got money and you spend it or loan it you are directly influencing entire regions, not just countries.
You end up indirectly directing their policies.

Stop burying your head in the sand. You're as guilty as the rest of us.

Wrong, leveler, it is not our responsibility. Those countries have choices too. if they cant think and act for themselves, they have no right to be in existance.

No, Its not my duty to waste my tax dollars and troops lives to help out a bunch of morons who have been killing each other for thousands of years.

No more policing the world. the answer really is simple, if u dont like death and destruction, stop doing it. theres always a way around it if people really want peace. The US, for instance, likes being at war alot, otherwise, wed not get involved in these messes.

The US should have never become a superpower, and we should not be policing anyone. And spending money on other coutnries when ours is in so much debt and in need of so much cleaning is stupid.

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
Wrong, leveler, it is not our responsibility. Those countries have choices too. if they cant think and act for themselves, they have no right to be in existance.

It is your responsibility ever since you became involved in World Policy decisions after WW2.
Europe had to rebuild. They spent most of their money picking their societies back off the floor. The Russians went about it a different way. They said "balls to society, we'll deal with that later". So you were the only country who could stop the threat of Communism.
Everything that you see happening today is a result of your battle with Communism. All the #ty little countries, all the poverty and despair. It's all down to the fact that you were fighting the Russians.
That war is now over. Now you have to win the peace.


True, you may see those countries that can't contain themselves as being of no worth. But the problem isn't that they do harm to themselves. It's that, left to their own devices, they will eventually do harm to us.

The US administration can see that they need to prepare for the future. They have to act. If they pull out now, after Iraq and Israel, it will be the greatest cop out in history.

The War on Terror isn't a war on other countries. It's a war on their societies' want for destruction.

You have no choice in the matter. You have to go on. If you don't finish what you started then the future for everyone is bleak.

Originally posted by Leveller

1) But you have no choice but to take your share of the blame. Stop burying your head in the sand. You're as guilty as the rest of us.

2) So you were the only country who could stop the threat of Communism. Everything that you see happening today is a result of your battle with Communism. All the #ty little countries, all the poverty and despair. It's all down to the fact that you were fighting the Russians.
That war is now over. Now you have to win the peace.

You have no choice in the matter. You have to go on. If you don't finish what you started then the future for everyone is bleak.

Ok, I agree on one thing, the world is ruled by money.

1) But I don't feel guilty when peoples want to kill their neighbors. What happened in Rwanda and now happening in Congo is not a money problem. It's an ethnical problem, as it happened in former Yugoslavia.

" You're not from my ethnie ? Ok, I kill you "

It's a racist war between some blacks ethnies and I don't see what the money has to do in that war.

Gee, and me who was thinking ONLY the evil white man was racist.

You can feel guilty of what you want, it's your problem, not mine.Me, I'm sleeping very well. Especially since these guys have killed our troops who were there to save their lives. In Belgium, we didn't forget what happened to our peacekeepers soldiers who have been slaughtered as animals by a bunch of REAL animals.

2) Sure...sure...It can't be the communism fault. It have to be the US fault. Stupids americans who didn't surrend to communism and have helped Europe to stay free.

Your post mean only this : " You fought against the Russians ( those wonderfull freedom fighters who were just looking to free us all ) and you won ? Now, you've to pay !!!!! It's YOUR fault cuz you *just* had to surrender but you didn't. "

And it's me who's burying his head in the sand......

No no no.
You totally misunderstand me.

Communism sucks. It's the perfect system but unfotunately we as a race aren't perfect enough to put it into practice. When we do try to put it into practice we end up in a mess. No. I'm damn glad that we won the Cold War.
but the fact that we had to fight that war meant that we had to pay a price afterwards. We have to rebuild.
You did it in Japan and Germany and now you have to do it on a larger scale. You HAVE to make these countries safe so that they don't attack you!!!

Dude, nobody is asking you to feel guilty. This is all about self preservation. Like it or not, a large proportion hates you simply because they got involved in the Cold War when they didn't see it as their battle.

Just because the Cold War is over, they don't forgive you. They hate all of the West now!!! They see that the US won and they see that we as a race have gradually integrated. It's not by pure chance that Bin Laden's first attack on your soil was directed at the UN building.

You are right in your final sentence. That is my point!!! You fought and won. But on the way you made a hell of a lot of enemies!!! You can narrow it down to one sentence and try and make it look as pitiful as possible but that's hiding away.

I'm not burying my head in the sand. If the US turns tail and hides we're all in the #e. Everybody. The whole of our world. The US is the only nation that has the power to deal with the situation because the US has all the money!!!!
It would be wonderful if other countries could take the strain and do the job, but they can't!!!!. My country is totally overstretched as it is at the moment. So are many other of your allies armed forces. We don't have the tools to complete the job. We can help you and offer you token support (like we did in Iraq) but you have to face the facts.
You are the only country on the face of the planet who can sort out the major issues that we are facing at the moment.

Turn your back on those issues and they aren't going to go away!!! They'll get worse. Eventually, you'll have no choice. You'll have to deal with them. But by then it may be too late.

Originally posted by Leveller

You are the only country on the face of the planet who can sort out the major issues that we are facing at the moment.

Yes, and when the US want to do the job, the whole world is shouting that the US want to control the world. But if they don't do it, the sames peoples are shouting again.

Impossible situation. When you don't act, you're the bad guy. But when you act, or just try to act, you're still the bad guy.

So what you've got to do is either educate those people or ignore them.

As long as they don't decide the direction that we go in, we are safe at the moment.

It seems an impossible situation right now. But hopefully? In the long run? They'll look back and thank you for it.

Originally posted by Leveller

They'll look back and thank you for it.

I don't believe it. I believe we just have to don't act and letting them doing what they want in their country until they don't threat us too much.

You could have said the same about Hitler or Stalin. You could have sat there and let them get on with it. But eventually they would have come for you.
The same will happen in the future if you don't sort out the problems we face now. And with the rapid advance in technology you only need one of your enemy to get through your defences to cause you serious damage.

It's far, far safer to deal with them on your own terms.


It doesn't matter that you're not to blame. Damn dude, I don't blame the US. I blame the people in these #ty little countries who have thirsted for power and taken their ignorance and made their people pay. But blaming them solves nothing.

You've got to remove them. And because you have the power to remove them you HAVE to use it. It is your responsibility.
Look, I know it's a heavy burden. Damn, as a UK citizen I share some of the burden of that responsibility. But if we let things go, yeah sure, some of these countries will damage themselves. But when all the dust has settled they'll look around for fresh people to lay the blame on rather than their own people. The slightest little excuse will be seized upon. We'll be their target.

This action that we're taking today isn't just taken to stop these guys from coming for us tonight. We're sorting them out now so we don't have to keep watching our backs for the rest of our existence.

At the risk of spoiling things by actually mentioning the original topicne might wish to keep in mind what many will see as the sub-text of this: a UN approved intervention with France and Russia looming large, side by side with the pe-emptive "unapproved" Iraq intervention.
This is rather more comlicated than one might at first think.

Originally posted by Estragon
a UN approved intervention with France and Russia looming large, side by side with the pe-emptive "unapproved" Iraq intervention.
This is rather more comlicated than one might at first think.

LOL. I don't see it as complicated.
It's how I've interpreted things all along.
There was no damage done to the UN. It's business as usual.

I disagree, leveler. Eventually, Hitler and Stalin would have either self destructed or cancelled each other out. Not our prob. They were doing a fine job of killing each other, should have left em to it.

Originally posted by Leveller
You could have said the same about Hitler or Stalin. You could have sat there and let them get on with it. But eventually they would have come for you.

That's what we did and we payed the price.An heavy one. But when I say " we ", I speak about the left and the far-left who were telling us to don't act against the nazis and the Japanese Empire.

But Africa is not Germany or Japan, and the Africans are not the germans or the Japaneses.

I think the worst thing in Africa is the existence of a large number of ethnic groups. Like the tower of Babel, this multitude causes only confusion.
Perhaps the wars will only end when they completely annihilate each other. If any country should get involved, it's America for what they did to Patrice Lumumba. That's what started this country on the path to destruction.