Friday, October 31, 2014 8:58:25 PM
Children 'hacked to death' in DR Congo town
At least 22, mostly women and children, hacked and clubbed to death, government says, in second massacre in a week.
19 Oct 2014 05:28
At least 22 people, most of them women and children, have been hacked and clubbed to death in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, just days after a similar massacre took place, a government official said.
The attack on Friday evening in the town of Eringeti, in North Kivu, left 10 women, eight children and four men dead, a local government official told the AFP news agency.
"Most of the victims were killed with machetes, axes and hoes," the non-governmental group Civil Society of North Kivu said in a statement.
Several children had their heads "bashed against the walls" it said, blaming the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan rebel group, that has terrorised the area for much of the last two decades.
Al Jazeera's Malcolm Webb, reporting from the town of Beni, said the latest attacks took the total number of people killed in last 10 days to over 80.
"People here are understandably distraught," our correspondent said.
Steve Wembi, a journalist based in Kinshasa, told Al Jazeera that some of the victims were also shot to death and there were many others who had escaped with injuries.
"A military source told me that 11 out of the 22 victims were Congolese soldiers but the Civil Society of North Kivu maintains all victims were civilians," Wembi said.
The attack occurred some 50 km from the town of Beni, where at least 26 people were slaughtered with machetes on Thursday, raising doubts about government claims that the Ugandans had been defeated.
Amisi Kalonda, government administrator for the Beni area, said he was heading to Eringeti along with an army contingent but was so far unable to say if the rebel ADF - who have bases in the DR Congo - were to blame.
Radio Okapi, a UN-run radio channel based in Kinshasa, reported that the bodies of those killed on Thursday were laid to rest on Friday.
To show their solidarity with the victims of Beni, national deputies observed a minute of silence during the plenary on Friday in the DRC capital, Kinshasa.
The Civil Society of North Kivu group said at least 79 people had been "savagely executed by the ADF" in the past fortnight, calling on the UN force in the country to contribute troops to help the army confront the rebels.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/10/children-hacked-death-dr-congo-town-201410189131413566.html
Two suspected 'witches' hacked to death in Tanzania
Two Tanzanian women were hacked to death by men who accused them of casting spells that made them sexually impotent, police said Friday, in the latest killings of alleged "witches".
The women, one aged in her 80s and her 45-year old daughter, were killed in the village of Ihugi in Tanzania's northern Shinyanga province late on Tuesday.
Three men slit their throats and then chopped their bodies up, local police chief Justus Kamugisha said, adding that their neighbour was suspected of carrying out the attack after he believed they had made him unable to have sex.
A 40-year-old man, who also accused the women of poisoning his mother last year, has been arrested.
"The victims were attacked as they were about to take their evening meal," Kamugisha said.
The attack follows the killing last week of seven people in a separate attack in western Tanzania, burned alive in their huts, who were also accused of witchcraft.
Belief in witches and black magic remains strong in many parts of Tanzania.
A local rights group, the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), has estimated as many as 500 "witches" are lynched every year, based on reports that counted some 3,000 people killed between 2005 and 2011.
Many of those killed were elderly women, the centre said.
The rights group said some are targeted because they have red eyes –- seen as a feared sign of witchcraft -- even though this is often the result of the use of dung as cooking fuel in impoverished communities.
The centre said that many local people believe that witchcraft is behind every misfortune -- from infertility and poverty to failure in business.
Past attacks have included a series of bloody assaults against albinos, as well as against young children.
In Tanzania, albinos are killed and dismembered because of a widespread belief that charms made from their body parts bring good fortune and prosperity.
http://news.yahoo.com/two-suspected-witches-hacked-death-tanzania-093023815.html
Remember Lizzie Borden?
At least 22, mostly women and children, hacked and clubbed to death, government says, in second massacre in a week.
19 Oct 2014 05:28
At least 22 people, most of them women and children, have been hacked and clubbed to death in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, just days after a similar massacre took place, a government official said.
The attack on Friday evening in the town of Eringeti, in North Kivu, left 10 women, eight children and four men dead, a local government official told the AFP news agency.
"Most of the victims were killed with machetes, axes and hoes," the non-governmental group Civil Society of North Kivu said in a statement.
Several children had their heads "bashed against the walls" it said, blaming the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan rebel group, that has terrorised the area for much of the last two decades.
Al Jazeera's Malcolm Webb, reporting from the town of Beni, said the latest attacks took the total number of people killed in last 10 days to over 80.
"People here are understandably distraught," our correspondent said.
Steve Wembi, a journalist based in Kinshasa, told Al Jazeera that some of the victims were also shot to death and there were many others who had escaped with injuries.
"A military source told me that 11 out of the 22 victims were Congolese soldiers but the Civil Society of North Kivu maintains all victims were civilians," Wembi said.
The attack occurred some 50 km from the town of Beni, where at least 26 people were slaughtered with machetes on Thursday, raising doubts about government claims that the Ugandans had been defeated.
Amisi Kalonda, government administrator for the Beni area, said he was heading to Eringeti along with an army contingent but was so far unable to say if the rebel ADF - who have bases in the DR Congo - were to blame.
Radio Okapi, a UN-run radio channel based in Kinshasa, reported that the bodies of those killed on Thursday were laid to rest on Friday.
To show their solidarity with the victims of Beni, national deputies observed a minute of silence during the plenary on Friday in the DRC capital, Kinshasa.
The Civil Society of North Kivu group said at least 79 people had been "savagely executed by the ADF" in the past fortnight, calling on the UN force in the country to contribute troops to help the army confront the rebels.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/10/children-hacked-death-dr-congo-town-201410189131413566.html
Two suspected 'witches' hacked to death in Tanzania
Two Tanzanian women were hacked to death by men who accused them of casting spells that made them sexually impotent, police said Friday, in the latest killings of alleged "witches".
The women, one aged in her 80s and her 45-year old daughter, were killed in the village of Ihugi in Tanzania's northern Shinyanga province late on Tuesday.
Three men slit their throats and then chopped their bodies up, local police chief Justus Kamugisha said, adding that their neighbour was suspected of carrying out the attack after he believed they had made him unable to have sex.
A 40-year-old man, who also accused the women of poisoning his mother last year, has been arrested.
"The victims were attacked as they were about to take their evening meal," Kamugisha said.
The attack follows the killing last week of seven people in a separate attack in western Tanzania, burned alive in their huts, who were also accused of witchcraft.
Belief in witches and black magic remains strong in many parts of Tanzania.
A local rights group, the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), has estimated as many as 500 "witches" are lynched every year, based on reports that counted some 3,000 people killed between 2005 and 2011.
Many of those killed were elderly women, the centre said.
The rights group said some are targeted because they have red eyes –- seen as a feared sign of witchcraft -- even though this is often the result of the use of dung as cooking fuel in impoverished communities.
The centre said that many local people believe that witchcraft is behind every misfortune -- from infertility and poverty to failure in business.
Past attacks have included a series of bloody assaults against albinos, as well as against young children.
In Tanzania, albinos are killed and dismembered because of a widespread belief that charms made from their body parts bring good fortune and prosperity.
http://news.yahoo.com/two-suspected-witches-hacked-death-tanzania-093023815.html
Remember Lizzie Borden?
NEVER LET A STUMBLE IN THE ROAD BE THE END OF THE JOURNEY!
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