BENI Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - A crowd stoned to death
a young man in northeast Congo on Friday before burning and eating his
corpse, witnesses said, in apparent revenge for a series of attacks by
Ugandan rebels.
The incident in the town of Beni followed a number of overnight raids in
the area blamed on the Islamist group ADF-NAUL, who are thought to
have massacred more than 100 people this month, using hatchets and
machetes to kill their victims.
Witnesses said the man, who has not been identified, aroused suspicion
on a bus when passengers discovered he could not speak the local
Swahili language and that he was carrying a machete.
Speaking from the town of Beni, Congo's President Joseph Kabila said
the ADF-NALU militants would face the same fate as the rebel
movement M23, which was defeated by a U.N.-backed government
offensive last year.
"There is no question of negotiation with the terrorists," Kabila said in a
speech at a local hotel. "They will be defeated as was the case with the
M23. And it will be very soon."
ADF-NALU is an alliance of groups opposed to the Ugandan government
that has operated from bases in neighboring Congo since the
mid-2000s, undermining Kinshasa's grip on the area.
The movement was blamed for the deaths of 14 people, killed early on
Thursday in the village of Kampi ya Chui, bringing the total death toll this
month to at least 107, said Teddy Kataliko, president of the Civil Society
of Beni.
Tensions ran high in the town on Friday morning with around 100
demonstrators blocking the road from the airport into town, throwing
stones and waving machetes to demand greater government protection
against the rebels.
Local government officials could not immediately be reached for
comment. Earlier in the week, the government sought to downplay the
threat posed by the group, which it had previously said was defeated in
an operation earlier this year.
Estimates of its strength vary greatly, but the website of the U.N.'s
peacekeeping mission in Congo estimates it has around 500 fighters.
The Ugandan government has said ADF-NALU is allied with Somalia's al
Qaeda-linked al Shabaab movement, but analysts say the nature of
these ties is not clear, despite the ADF-NALU's clear Islamist ideology.
In his speech on Friday, Kabila appealed for public support for a ramping
up of its offensive against the group, but did not specify what that would
entail.
"I call on the population to support the army because the victory against
the M23 was because the population was behind the army," he said. "I
call on young people to join the army in great numbers."
Kabila also defended the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as
MONUSCO following criticism from locals that it had failed to defend
them and had even collaborated with ADF-NALU.
Crowds of mainly young men attacked several peacekeeping facilities
with stones and bows and arrows last week, forcing the evacuation of
some staff.
The U.N. mission says it has stepped up patrols in the area in the wake
of the massacres.
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