Soldiers Loot Congo Camps, Refugees Say

Army Rampage In War-Torn Nation Includes Shooting Spree, Robberies, Witnesses Claim

(AP)  Soldiers went on an overnight looting and shooting spree in a sprawling Congolese refugee camp, stealing from hungry and traumatized people who have fled fighting in the country's east, witnesses said Monday.

They said one woman was killed by a stray bullet Sunday night in Kibati, a village north of the eastern provincial capital of Goma that has been overrun by about 70,000 refugees.

Patrice Sebahunde, 60, said he was awakened at 10 p.m. by four soldiers pointing guns in his face. They took his family's food, clothes and their plastic water bucket.

"They came up, pointed a gun at me, and said, 'Wake up, wake up, give us money and everything you have,"' Sebahunde said.

Bernard Udafuye said his house also was looted by soldiers Sunday night who stole food and a bucket but he did not blame them.

"It was just an accident, that they stole from us," he said. "They are hungry."

Witnesses said the soldiers shot in the air, and that one stray bullet hit a 45-year-old woman in the head, killing her instantly. A 20-year-old woman was killed at Kibati on Thursday night when a bullet pierced her tent and hit her in the head.

U.N. refugee officials who had reported Thursday's shooting said they had no information about any violence Sunday.

"Shooting is not something you can easily hide," said spokesman David Nthegwe, who added that a 2-year-old girl died of sickness, possibly malaria, at the camp on Sunday night. "Our information on the ground last night says there was no looting and nobody was killed."

But at least 10 witnesses who spoke separately to The Associated Press told the same story.

"Last night soldiers came here to the camp to cause trouble," said Maria Mukawera, 47. "They came to steal. They started shooting in the air. I saw it with my own eyes."

Sunday's rampage followed an afternoon showdown between soldiers and U.N. peacekeepers outside the camp.

Soldiers stopped the peacekeepers' convoy at an impromptu roadblock and dragged 23 Congolese men off the trucks, accusing them of being rebels. U.N. officials said the men were rebels who had surrendered as well as national policemen and civilians.

During the incident, people hurled stones at the peacekeepers' vehicles, angry at the organization's failure to protect them. One peacekeeper was injured, U.N. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jean-Paul Dietrich said.

Dietrich said Sunday there were 10 surrendered rebels among the 23 and that they were to have been turned over to the military Monday. "But because of this incident, it was agreed on the spot to hand them over."

On Monday, Dietrich said he did not know where those detained had been taken. He said the U.N. was still gathering information.

"I think this is the first time a normal convoy carrying former rebels and militia has been stopped," he said. "We are not happy about what happened. There is a lot of anger, frustration and so forth."

Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda accuses the peacekeepers of siding with the soldiers.

The U.N. mandate orders the peacekeepers to give support to Congo's army - a ragtag, poorly paid collection of the defeated army of ousted dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and several of the rebel groups that helped overthrow him, including fighters of current President Joseph Kabila.

A quarter of a million people have been displaced in eastern Congo since August, when the latest round of fighting between the rebels and the government began.

Nkunda says he is protecting Congo's minorities, especially ethnic Tutsis he says are threatened by Hutu militias from Rwanda, many of whom fled to Congo's forests after participating in Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Critics accuse Nkunda of exploiting the instability to gain power, and say his attacks have increased resentment against Tutsis.

The government is refusing Nkunda's demand for direct negotiations.

[toolmangler-2009]

The looting will ease if looters are shot on sight