Villagers backed up reports of rape, looting and cannibalism in the northeastern part of Congo, the United Nations said Saturday following a weeklong investigation in the region.
"The team interviewed victims as well as witnesses of atrocities who spoke of cases of wholesale rape, of looting ... and also cases of forced cannibalism," said Patricia Tome, the UN spokeswoman in the Congo.
The mission was prompted by reports that two groups, the rebel Congolese Liberation Movement of Jean-Pierre Bemba and its allied Congolese Rally for Democracy-National, had turned viciously on civilians in the course of fighting.
Tome said the investigators sought out Pygmies, who went deep in hiding in the forests there. Pygmies are believed to be the earliest inhabitants of Central Africa, and around 600,000 live in Congo.
A Catholic cleric in the province, Monsignor Melchisedec Sikuli Paluku, told The Associated Press that rebels forced the Pygmies and others to eat human flesh. Some Pygmies taken prisoner were even forced to eat parts of their own bodies, he said.
The report will be presented to United Nations officials, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the high commissioner for human rights. Vieira de Mello is expected in the capital Kinshasa on Sunday. (Albawaba.com)
