Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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Wounded in the head and chest and with her children in tow, Miniunga Bonkita fled to the haven of an island in the Congo River, a sliver of land between two nations.
“I stumbled across the assailants as I was returning home,” the young mother told AFP.
“They shot at me,” she said. “I fell and then they started beating me.”
More than 500 fellow members of the Banunu community were slaughtered on December 16-17 in Yumbi, a remote region in western DR Congo — a massacre whose full details are only now emerging, almost two months later.
Bonkita found refuge with her children and about 100 other Banunus on Moniende island in the river that has given its name to countries on both banks: the vast Democratic Republic of Congo, once ruled by Belgium, and the smaller Republic of Congo, a former French colony.
Yumbi, located in Mai-Ndombi province, lies about 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Kinshasa, reached by a difficult two-day boat trip from the capital.
At least 535 people were slaughtered, according to a UN toll based on a count of the bodies.
Almost all the victims were members of the Banunu ethnic group, hunted down by armed men from the Batende community.
Fear and trauma haunt Congolese massacre survivors - Daily Times
There has to be more to this than a burial.
“I stumbled across the assailants as I was returning home,” the young mother told AFP.
“They shot at me,” she said. “I fell and then they started beating me.”
More than 500 fellow members of the Banunu community were slaughtered on December 16-17 in Yumbi, a remote region in western DR Congo — a massacre whose full details are only now emerging, almost two months later.
Bonkita found refuge with her children and about 100 other Banunus on Moniende island in the river that has given its name to countries on both banks: the vast Democratic Republic of Congo, once ruled by Belgium, and the smaller Republic of Congo, a former French colony.
Yumbi, located in Mai-Ndombi province, lies about 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Kinshasa, reached by a difficult two-day boat trip from the capital.
At least 535 people were slaughtered, according to a UN toll based on a count of the bodies.
Almost all the victims were members of the Banunu ethnic group, hunted down by armed men from the Batende community.
Fear and trauma haunt Congolese massacre survivors - Daily Times
There has to be more to this than a burial.
