UN food convoy looted
2005-04-25 14:03
Brazzaville - Militia members known as 'ninjas' attacked a UN aid supply convoy in the Republic of Congo, taking most of the food and medicines it was carrying, an aid organization source said here Monday.
Nobody was injured in the incident, which took place on Saturday in the violence-prone Pool region south of the capital Brazzaville, the source said.
The convoy was attacked twice in quick succession as it attempted to travel from Brazzaville to Kinkala, the capital of the Pool region.
The first attack took place at Loute-e-te, 120km from the capital, and the second shortly afterwards Missafou, a few kilometres further on.
The second attack was carried out by some 30 "heavily armed" militia members, the source said.
People on the convoy, which included a number of journalists in addition to UN staff, were robbed by the assailants, but otherwise unhurt. They were later taken to the town of Mindouli, from where they were flown to Kinkala by helicopter, the source said.
Congo is a former French colony located in west-central Africa, to the north of the much bigger Democratic Republic of Congo.
Its Pool region has suffered from endemic civil conflict in recent years, with full-scale hostilities in 1998 and 2002 between government forces and the "ninja" militias.
A peace agreement was reached in 2003, but the militias have still not been disarmed.