i loooooooooooooove cannibalism

According to NPR, the number of deaths resulting from the past 5 years of civil war in the Congo is the equivalent of a September 11th attack every day for three years straight (estimates range from 3.3 million to 4.7 million). But the conflict in the Congo is not distinguished by the fact that it has claimed more lives since World War II than any other conflict. What sets it apart is that the fighting has drawn upon every imaginable element of war: tribalism and ethnicity, proxy fighters and paramilitaries, natural resource exploitation, child fighters, and cannibalism. Yes... cannibalism. Unfortunately, the word cannibalism barely scratches the surface of what some Congolese fighters do to their victims.

Here is some background on the situation from the Guardian

This is a very extensive and thoroughly detailed report from Amnesty International

Here is an article on cannibalism from The Guardian

Incidents of cannibalism have been reported in past upheavals in Congo, including during the 1964 Simba revolt, and previously in the current civil war that has divided Africa's third largest nation since 1998. The fighting has been fuelled by a mixture of ethnic hatred, often added to by outside interests.

There is also a belief among some groups that eating body parts of one's foes imparts power.

Reports of cannibalism are also not new in Ituri district where Bunia is located. It is a resource-rich region that has been plagued by massacres and killings as rival factions have fought for control.

Here is an excerpt from another article on cannibalism at AlertNet.org

BUNIA, Congo, June 5 (Reuters) - High on drugs and war, the militiamen took the Rwandan woman to a public place. There, before a large crowd, they mutilated her, cooked parts of her body and ate them.
Elizabeth Tebuka was in the crowd in a remote village in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo when the woman was attacked by Lendu militiamen.

"They cut her breasts off and grilled them and the heart too," Tebuka said, standing in a ramshackle camp for thousands who have fled fighting in the region.

Here is an excerpt from an article on the conflict at NPR.org

BUNIA, Congo--From the safety of a United Nations compound ringed with razor wire and guarded by Uruguayan peacekeepers in armored vehicles, refugees described two weeks of massacres that have taken place in this town in the northeastern corner of Congo.
"We saw people with their throats cut, with their bellies open, bodies from which the hearts had been removed," said Japhet M'Balissaga, a 25-year-old university student sitting under the yellow glow of a plastic makeshift tent. "I promise you that if it had happened in front of foreign cameras, the world would have been shaken."

After reading all of this, it really helps put things in perspective. A lot of American political activists complain about corporations, and legal decisions, and this and that... but imagine you live in a country where brutal warfare has been a way of life for three generations and there is no end in sight.

Posted by Eric at June 10, 2003 04:43 PM

Thats a cannibals vacation paradise but a nightmare for most. Its too bad most Amerikkkans are cold greedy heartless ignorant fools who coudn't even tell you where the Congo is even if you handed 5 global atlas's. Most are too busy worrying about the exposure of Janet Jacksons breast corrupting and causing social havoc then womens breats in other countries torn off in war circumstances. Its very sad.

I agree w/you 110% Hannibal Lectur, it is sad-- too bad not all americans are like our kind, (the intelligent ones that know where the congo is).

I love music!