Cannibalism in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Hilary Andersson:

The area is not very large on the map of Africa.

But the region in and north of the forests of central Africa has hosted Rwanda's genocide, the massacres in Burundi, the devastation of southern Sudan, the mutilations in Uganda, and the atrocities of the north-eastern Congo.

And so I had the usual feeling of dread when we flew into the area on this trip.

We left the acacia-lined, sunswept plains of east Africa and, as we approached, the sky began to darken.

We began to descend through black clouds that hugged the huge forests below.

We landed in a ferocious rainstorm in the small town of Bunia in the north-east of the Congo.

The Congo is a vast territory, the size of western Europe.

But it has been called the hole in the heart of Africa, because much of it is a giant power vacuum.

In the north-east, at least seven warlords are locked in brutal scramble for personal power and control.

Lots of the fighters are children.

Rape is more widespread than possibly anywhere else on Earth.

And the war is not about any principle at all, violence has just moved in where there is no authority.

We visited a refugee camp set in a small valley, a piece of land like a basin.

Around its rims the United Nations patrolled to keep the militia out.

In an afternoon every person we spoke to, without exception, had witnessed not just killing but horrific mutilation.

The children had sunken, troubled eyes. The women looked exhausted and the men were bursting with what they had to tell.

Their relatives had their hearts ripped out, their heads cut off, their sexual organs removed.

This, it seemed, was the standard way of killing here.

Why?

You want to know why?

Yes there is war, but this is different.

This is not just killing, or taking territory.

It is deliberate mutilation on a scale that makes you reel with horror.

It reminded me of the atrocities in Bosnia, where at a certain point individuals turned into human devils, bent on doing not just the worst they could but the most atrocious.

We met a woman whom I will call Kavuo, not her real name.

To talk to her about her story we had to travel to a remote location in the jungle, where we could not be seen or heard by others.

What she had to speak of is an atrocity shrouded in secrecy here, an atrocity. It is taboo to even speak of it.

The events she told me about happened two years ago and hers was one of the first public testimonies of its kind.

Kavuo was on the run with her husband, her four children and three other couples.

They had spent the night in a hut, and got up in the morning to keep moving.

But they had barely left the hut when six militia men accosted them.

Kavuo and the women were ordered to lie with their faces on the ground.

The militia ordered Kavuo's husband and the other men to collect firewood.

Then the women were told to say goodbye to their husbands.

They obeyed.

The militia then began to kill the men one by one.

Kavuo's husband was third.

Her testimony is that the militia men lit a fire and put an old oil drum, cut into two, on the flames.

I will omit other details. But Kavuo says the militia cooked her husband's parts in the drums and ate them.

News and Blogosphere:

U.N.: Congo Militias Grilled Victims Alive

Cannibalism in DR Congo: Zainabo's agony

UN condemns DR Congo cannibalism

Pygmies beg UN for aid to save them from Congo cannibals

Rebels 'ate their victims'