Congolese Pygmies Say They Are Being Hunted By Cannibals

The Independent (UK) ^ | 5-23-2003 | Priscilla Cheung

[blam]

Congolese Pygmies say they are being hunted by cannibals

By Priscilla Cheung, AP, in New York
23 May 2003

Activists from Pygmy communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo want the United Nations to set up a tribunal to try government and rebel fighters accused of slaughtering and eating Pygmies during fighting in the north-east of the country.

Army, rebel and tribal fighters have been pursuing them in forests, killing and eating them, the activists said on Wednesday. Some fighters believed that eating their flesh would give them magic power, the activists said, adding that there had been reports of markets for the flesh.

"In living memory, we have seen cruelty, massacres, genocide, but we have never seen human beings hunted and eaten literally as though they were game animals, as has recently happened," said Sinafasi Makelo, a representative of the Mbuti Pygmies.

Mr Makelo, a delegate to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which is meeting at UN headquarters in New York, said: "Pygmies are being pursued in the forests ... People have been eaten."

About 600,000 Pygmies are believed to live in the country. Africa's third-largest country is emerging from four and a half years of civil war, fuelled in large part by the desire of the Congolese and their neighbours to control resources and territory. The Pygmies, who are among the original inhabitants of the republic (formerly Zaire), live off game hunting.

Earlier this year, human rights activists and UN investigators confirmed that tribal fighters and members of one rebel group killed, cooked and ate at least a dozen Pygmies and an undetermined number of other tribespeople during fighting with rival insurgents.

Njuma Ekundanayo, an expert member of the Permanent Forum, said attacks against Pygmies "are not only coming from the [Congolese] army but also from other groups ... We don't understand why the military practices cannibalism against the Pygmies," she said.

The fighters also rape and sexually assault Pygmy women, and sexually transmitted diseases are spreading in Pygmy communities, the activists said. Addressing the forum on Tuesday, Mr Makelo told the body to ask the UN Security Council, the UN Committee on Human Rights and other groups to recognise cannibalism as a crime against humanity and an act of genocide. He also asked the UN to set up an international tribunal to try those accused of such crimes.

Ms Ekundanayo said there were no figures available on the assaults. "Since the war, the situation of the Pygmies has grown more grave," she said.

Fred Eckhard, a UN spokesman, said it was "taking longer than we had hoped" for the international community to piece together an emergency force.

The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, asked France last week to lead an emergency force to Ituri province, separate from the UN force already in the country to monitor a 1999 cease-fire. A team of French officers is in the region to assess the mission, which the French Defence Ministry has said would be "very complex". Britain has also signalled a willingness to contribute soldiers.

The Hema and Lendu tribes have been fighting each other for control of the region's rich mineral deposits, vast forests and fertile land. The latest clashes erupted on 7 May after neighbouring Uganda claimed it had pulled out its 6,000 soldiers around Bunia, leaving a security vacuum. Hundreds of people have been killed.

[Salem]

Hear they taste like chicken.

[per loin]

Stupid Congolese! Don't they know it's bad to snack between meals.

[Yeti]

Pygmies are mean.

[dark_lord]

That's it. You're damned. Now, where's my little black book...

[RightWhale]

Kofi Annan wants the UN to jump into the middle of this. Unreal. Congo is much bigger than Iraq and is still well vegetated, forested. It's fairly populated, too, and apparently they're in a bad mood. Europe was kicked from the continent, and the USA wouldn't be interested in establishing an area-wide presence without commercial prospects.

Doesn't look good for the dark continent.

[Eaker]

....and they are soooo cute on the little skewers!!!

Let's see....green olive..onion..pygmy..mushroom..black olive..pygmy......

Repeat as necessary!!

Eaker

[Gritty]

"...we have never seen human beings hunted and eaten literally as though they were game animals, as has recently happened."

Jesse Jackson seems to know a lot about human rights regarding the abuse of blacks.

Let's send him to straighten out this little problem!

[Blue Screen of Death]

Somehow, somewhere there has to be a way to blame Bush for this.

[Prodigal Son]

We won't see it. In order for the lefties to even acknowledge the problem would mean they would have to hit the streets by the millions to protest the injustice in the Congo. That takes money. All the Left's funds have been earmarked for battling the Right and winning the White House back. Saving the world, that sort of thing- it'll have to wait. Easier for them to ignore this...

[Salem]

....and they are soooo cute on the little skewers!!!

Let's see....green olive..onion..pygmy..mushroom..black olive..pygmy......

Repeat as necessary!!

ROTFLMAO!!! :-D

[Squantos]

Cunning runts .........tasty !

[Eaker]

Gotta bump that to El Roy!

Eaker

[Squantos]

Why ain't yall on the safari elephant gun thread ?!?!? Ya'll feelin poorly ?:o)

Stay Safe !

[TexasCowboy]

"Let's see....green olive..onion..pygmy..mushroom..black olive..pygmy...... "

Gotta marinate those little suckers in Tabasco.
Tastes gamey without it.

[Born in a Rage]

Aside from all of the 'joking' comments from FReepers, this is a very serious issue. First of all, it's just plain sickening. Secondly, there must be some risk of diseases spreading from this cruel act. Thirdly, the idea of putting soldiers over there where the regard for human life is null and void seems like an endless battle. What to do?

[Eaker]

Why ain't yall on the safari elephant gun thread ?!?!?

Our biggest caliber is .50 out of a Barrett...................

Eaker

[blam]

"What to do?"

Send in the French.

[HiTech RedNeck]

so the idea is the french will surrender, be eaten covered with their own cheese, and the pygmies will be spared???

[blam]

"so the idea is the french will surrender, be eaten covered with their own cheese, and the pygmies will be spared???"

Yup, I hear they make good food.

[wardaddy]

I was poster #4....the tip of the piehole spear...lol

[Squantos]

Yeah but I knew you'd want to experience the wit.....nit wit, half wit and their ugly sister twit.........:o)

I'll "read" the thread next time before I bother ya....Stay Safe WD !

[wardaddy]

Hey....let me be really clear.

You are never ever a "bother" homeo!