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KINSHASA, March 2 (Reuters) - U.N. Pakistani peacekeepers killed at least 50 to 60 militiamen in a clash in northeastern Congo on Tuesday, a week after nine Bangladeshi U.N. troops were killed there, senior U.N. sources said on Wednesday. "The number of militia dead is now 50, maybe 60, but there may be more because they were engaged by helicopters as well," said a senior source in the U.N. peacekeeping operation in the Congo. The clash happened 30 km (19 miles) outside the town of Bunia, the main city in the troubled Ituri region.

The vast, mutilated African state of Congo is enjoying a ceasefire but butchery and theft continue apace while the West remains inactive reports Adrian Blomfield in Aru Nine-year-old Bahati lies on the ground whimpering, a urine stain slowly darkening the front of his baggy camouflage trousers. Two boys, perhaps three or four years older and also dressed in military uniform, stand over his body clutching bamboo canes in their hands. A boy soldier in the eastern Congo They look across at "General Jerome", a former traffic warden who now heads the Armed Forces of Congolese Patriots, or FAPC, one of...

'The soldiers had red eyes, and they were singing and dancing. They slaughtered the priest, cut him to pieces, removed his heart and liver and cooked them. The rest of the group had to pay money or eat the human flesh to be allowed to leave. Another four men, three women and three children were killed.' Among the dead was a pregnant woman who was gutted. In Congo for the past 50 years tales of cannibalism have been apocryphal. Today they are a norm - what better way to sow terror into the hearts of your enemies than to instil...

Bunia given gun-free deadline 21/06/2003 20:29 - (SA) Related Articles SA may send troops to Bunia Rebels agree to demilitarise UN envoys get a 'taste of Bunia' Renewed fighting in Bunia Bunia - The European Union-led multinational force deployed here said on Saturday that the streets of the volatile rebel-held northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town must be free of guns within 72 hours. Meanwhile, concern mounted that a new deployment of government policemen to Bunia's airport could upset delicate efforts to pacify the region, where inter-ethnic violence has claimed hundreds of lives in recent weeks, worsening a long-term...

Congolese cheer French troops arriving in Bunia By Declan Walsh in Bunia 07 June 2003 French special forces led a rapid reaction force that deployed in north-eastern Congo yesterday to halt the spate of ethnic massacres that led to 430 deaths last month. Hundreds of joyous Congolese cried "Liberated!" as officers from the advance force, which will eventually number 1,400, sped up Bunia's main street. Surly fighters from the Hema militia controlling Bunia looked on. Five British officers also arrived to prepare for British deployment. The final UK troop numbers remain unconfirmed. Hundreds of refugees poured out of the UN...

Wielding machetes and rocket-launchers, hordes of tribal warriors and children have marauded through the Democratic Republic of Congo town of Bunia, unleashing an orgy of killing and forcing tens of thousands of terrified refugees across the Ugandan border. United Nations officials have warned the Security Council that the crisis was potentially a genocide in the making, drawing parallels with Rwanda, where between 500,000 and 1 million people, mainly Tutsis, were killed by Hutus in 1994. "Bunia is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe," Fred Eckhard, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said on Sunday. As the situation...

A United Nations official has warned that the town of Bunia in north-eastern DR Congo is on the verge of an "humanitarian catastrophe". Since the departure of Ugandan troops this week - part of an international peace deal for the DRC - Lendu and Hema militias have been battling for control of the town. Head of UN peacekeeping operations Jean-Marie Guehenno has warned Security Council members of the ongoing bloodshed in the region. The council said it would meet again on Monday to discuss "effective measures to stop the violence". Food shortages About 500 UN peacekeeping troops in Bunia have...