The Seattle Times
Monday, April 29, 2002 - 12:00 a.m. Pacific
KIGALI, Rwanda — Fighting between rival tribesmen in northeastern Congo has left scores of people dead and injured over the last two weeks, a Ugandan army spokesman said yesterday.
Maj. Shaban Bantariza said Lendu tribal militiamen, armed with assault rifles, machetes and bows and arrows, have killed "scores" of people from the smaller Hema tribe.
The Hema and Lendu communities have fought periodically for decades over tea and coffee farms and cattle that form the backbone of the local economy. The use of primitive weapons kept casualty figures low in the past. But following the outbreak of Congo's war in August 1998, the communities have been able to arm themselves with assault rifles and other light weapons.
Ugandan forces, who are in the country backing a rebel group in the civil war, have intervened and the killings have stopped, but the situation remains volatile, Bantariza said.
Government raid on rebels leaves 28 guerrillas dead KATMANDU, Nepal — Government forces attacked rebel training camps and hide-outs in the remote mountains of Nepal over the weekend, killing at least 28 guerrillas, the defense ministry said.
The latest government offensive came after a five-day nationwide strike ordered by the rebels ended Saturday. The strike shut down most of Nepal in the first two days, but businesses gradually reopened as people responded to the government's call to defy the rebels.
Guerrillas have waged an insurrection since 1996 in an attempt to topple the constitutional monarchy in the Himalayan kingdom and set up a communist state. More than 3,000 people have died in the fighting.
Interesting semantics- it's kind of a stretch to include blades & bows in the mix. Of course, to an unarmed man, even something as crude as an ice pick is deadly....