'Pygmies treated as slaves'
2004-02-14 20:09
Brazzaville - Congo's leading human rights group has accused the Bantu population of continuing to treat the minority pygmies in the country as slaves, an inquiry obtained by AFP on Saturday revealed.
"The Bantu population considers that the pygmies are sub-humans who are not capable of having the same rights. They are treated like slaves - chattels, even, that belong to certain Bantus who consider them to be their property," the report said.
The inquiry was carried out between June and August 2003 by the Congolese Human Rights Obervatory with the financial backing of the international conservation group Rainforest International.
Investigators studied relations between the two peoples in Lekoumou and Niari in the south of Congo and Sangha in the north.
The inquiry underlined "the scale of human rights violations against Pygmies by the Bantus," which it said in Niari region were like that of "master and slave."
The report noted that violations were often carried out with the full knowledge of the local police.