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CNN Live Event/Special
A Massacre in Congo a Result of Out of Control Civil War
Aired June 05, 2003 - 20:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Lets wrap up the time lane of what's happening now. Efforts to end Congo's bloody civil war is stalling, and it is a bloody civil war. Rebels now say the government wants too much power by demanding to keep the top post in the Congolese Army. Meanwhile, the atrocities grow more horrific by each passing day. CNN's Catherine Bond reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CATHERINE BOND, CNN'S NAIROBI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): The parishioner pay hers respects to two Catholic priests murdered here on May 10th when fighters from majority Lendus tribe retreated through this neighborhood, turning the parish to a killing ground. The targets of the Lendus, members of the minority tribe. Sheltering in the parish compound where are more than 200 civilians from four different tribes. The Lendus fighters broke in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (TALKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
BOND: They beat the refugees, shot at them say (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a trainee priest and then picked out those who were Hemas. They picked them all out, they took them with them and they left. The priests killed he says were Hemas. Himself a Hemas, he escaped by giving a Lendus fighter 75 cents. Sixteen Hemas men, women, and children were slaughtered outside. Most were shot, some were stabbed, others were beheaded or chopped to pieces he says.
(on camera): This unceremonious patch of earth is actually a mass grave where witnesses say more than a dozen people were buried. Marie Terrez (ph) is a Hemas but she is not. She and her eight children with her survived the killings.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (TALKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
BOND (voice-over): One of them said, you're a Hemas I can tell by the way you look. But another said, no, she's not, she's from the Modandy (ph) tribe, her husband's tribe, so she let us out, she says. But Marie Terrez's 17-year-old daughter abducted by a Lendus and was held for five days. She doesn't want to say much about what happened to her.
Another abductee, Pachuni (ph) said she hasn't been able to sleep properly since witnessing Lendus fighters not just stabbing the Hemas civilians but mutilating their bodies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (TALKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
BOND: I saw the killing. I saw the way they removed the heart. The way they roasted it in a fire and then eat it she says. I saw it and it terrifies me.
Two days after the killings and abductions in the parish, an armed group dominated by the minority Hemas took back control of the Bunia town and its surrounding neighborhoods. But the random and targeted killings of Civilians has continued.
Catherine Bond, CNN, Bunia, North Eastern Congo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Lets wrap up the time lane of what's happening now. Efforts to end Congo's bloody civil war is stalling, and it is a bloody civil war. Rebels now say the government wants too much power by demanding to keep the top post in the Congolese Army. Meanwhile, the atrocities grow more horrific by each passing day. >
Aired June 5, 2003 - 20:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Lets wrap up the time lane of what's happening now. Efforts to end Congo's bloody civil war is stalling, and it is a bloody civil war. Rebels now say the government wants too much power by demanding to keep the top post in the Congolese Army. Meanwhile, the atrocities grow more horrific by each passing day. CNN's Catherine Bond reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CATHERINE BOND, CNN'S NAIROBI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): The parishioner pay hers respects to two Catholic priests murdered here on May 10th when fighters from majority Lendus tribe retreated through this neighborhood, turning the parish to a killing ground. The targets of the Lendus, members of the minority tribe. Sheltering in the parish compound where are more than 200 civilians from four different tribes. The Lendus fighters broke in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (TALKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
BOND: They beat the refugees, shot at them say (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a trainee priest and then picked out those who were Hemas. They picked them all out, they took them with them and they left. The priests killed he says were Hemas. Himself a Hemas, he escaped by giving a Lendus fighter 75 cents. Sixteen Hemas men, women, and children were slaughtered outside. Most were shot, some were stabbed, others were beheaded or chopped to pieces he says.
(on camera): This unceremonious patch of earth is actually a mass grave where witnesses say more than a dozen people were buried. Marie Terrez (ph) is a Hemas but she is not. She and her eight children with her survived the killings.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (TALKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
BOND (voice-over): One of them said, you're a Hemas I can tell by the way you look. But another said, no, she's not, she's from the Modandy (ph) tribe, her husband's tribe, so she let us out, she says. But Marie Terrez's 17-year-old daughter abducted by a Lendus and was held for five days. She doesn't want to say much about what happened to her.
Another abductee, Pachuni (ph) said she hasn't been able to sleep properly since witnessing Lendus fighters not just stabbing the Hemas civilians but mutilating their bodies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (TALKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
BOND: I saw the killing. I saw the way they removed the heart. The way they roasted it in a fire and then eat it she says. I saw it and it terrifies me.
Two days after the killings and abductions in the parish, an armed group dominated by the minority Hemas took back control of the Bunia town and its surrounding neighborhoods. But the random and targeted killings of Civilians has continued.
Catherine Bond, CNN, Bunia, North Eastern Congo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Lets wrap up the time lane of what's happening now. Efforts to end Congo's bloody civil war is stalling, and it is a bloody civil war. Rebels now say the government wants too much power by demanding to keep the top post in the Congolese Army. Meanwhile, the atrocities grow more horrific by each passing day. >
