UN discovers 280 mutilated bodies

THE mutilated bodies of 280 people have been discovered in the town of Bunia in eastern Congo after days of fighting between tribal militias, a United Nations official said yesterday.

Youths armed with spears, knives and bows and arrows from the Hema and Lendu tribes have been battling for supremacy in Bunia since the Ugandan army pulled out of the town early in May.

Hundreds of people are thought to have died with thousands fleeing their homes in terror, but a measure of calm has settled in since a ceasefire signed by members of the militia groups and President Joseph Kabila took effect on Saturday.

"A calm situation continues to prevail. We are assisting the local Red Cross to discover bodies. The count was 280 this morning," said Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC).

"We are organising the distribution of food and humanitarian aid." he said from Bunia.

He said around 17,000 people had been displaced by the fighting and were now under UN protection.

"We have organised a meeting of the two chiefs of the armed groups on how to govern Bunia, and the proposed location of their forces," said Mr Toure. "They are working out modalities for a joint military police for Bunia."

An eight-member team of French soldiers was preparing the ground for an international force aimed at stopping the bloodshed, he added.

MONUC's 700 observers have no mandate to prevent the violence and their role is limited to monitoring ceasefires. Congo's war began in 1998 when Uganda and Rwanda invaded to back rebels fighting to topple the central government. Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia sent troops to aid the government in Kinshasa and have since withdrawn them.