UN accused of killing civilians
2005-03-03 10:37
Bunia - A spokesperson for the ethnic Lendu community on Wednesday accused United Nations peacekeepers of killing women and children in a village in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo during an offensive against local militias blamed for a murderous ambush.
"The person who called me (from the village of Loga) told me there were 25 people killed and that they were still looking for more bodies," said Larry Thewi Batsi, spokesperson for the Lendus, the largest ethnic community in the troubled Ituri region.
"There are definitely women and children among the dead. He told me about three primary school children," the spokesperson told reporters in the Ituri town of Bunia.
He did not exclude the possibility that militiamen were among the casualties. "I was not there so I cannot confirm it," he said.
A spokesperson for the UN Mission in DR Congo, Monuc, said he could "not rule out that civilians" were among the casualties during the operation on Tuesday, noting that the militias had "used civilians as human shields" during the fighting.
"At this point, I can neither confirm nor deny that there were civilian casualties. We have no information on this at this time," said Kemal Saiki.
UN peacekeeping troops are pressing an offensive against local militias in the Ituri region after killing dozens in response to a murderous ambush.
Almost 250 Pakistani and South African troops on Tuesday killed at least 50 militiamen and destroyed two of their camps, the chief of staff of the UN mission in DRC (Monuc), General Jean-Francois Collot d'Escury, said on Wednesday.
The onslaught was a "proportionate" UN reaction to the killing last Friday of nine Bangladeshi UN soldiers, Collot d'Escury told a press conference in Kinshasa, capital of the vast central African country emerging from a ruinous war. - AFP
- SAPA