Hutu militia spread terror in Congo's east

MASISI, Congo (Reuters) -- Interahamwe militiamen, the fanatical ethnic Hutus who led Rwanda's 1994 genocide, still roam the forests of eastern Congo, killing and maiming at will.

Unable to launch a full-scale invasion of their native Rwanda, the Interahamwe keep their armed movement alive in the Congo's remote jungle regions by launching small raids and terrorizing civilian populations.

When the militiamen caught up with Elizabeth Nzabandeba, they chose her to be what they termed a "messenger."

"They took a knife and twisted the blade under my eye, and dug out my eye," she said, drawing back her black and yellow shawl to reveal a bloody, swollen wound. "They said it was a sign to show the world they were angry."

The Interahamwe -- "those who work together" -- spearheaded the slaughter of 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994, a campaign aimed at wiping out the country's ethnic Tutsi minority.

The killing stopped when the Hutu extremists were forced to flee by victorious Tutsi rebels. The Interahamwe first took shelter in the refugee camps which sprang up in what was then Zaire, using them as a base to attack Rwanda.

Two years later, a Rwandan invasion destroyed the camps, only to drive the Interahamwe deeper into the steep green hills and dense forests of the country now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

At night, their reign of terror lives on.

"I had taken one of my children to hospital when I came back in the evening to find houses already burning," said 57-year-old Gakuru Bihanga, who lost his son and five other relatives in an attack late last month.

"We all ran into the forest, but at dawn I heard people crying out," he said. "I went to see what was happening and saw the corpses. A lot of people died, and others, who were still alive, had their limbs chopped off."

By his side, his 8-year old grandson, malnourished and afraid, has a bandage over his reed-thin arm.

"This child was just curious, ran out and shouted "The soldiers are coming" -- but then they shot at him," he said. "He ran into the forest and spent the night there.

"In the morning we buried his father's corpse. They had pumped him full of bullets -- almost a whole cartridge."

Suspected collaborators punished

Rwanda's army still occupies huge swathes of eastern Congo, yet it is hardly in complete control. Increasingly, now almost nightly, there are reports of Interahamwe attacks in the remote and inaccessible interior.

Health centers and schools are ransacked and burned. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes.

Some witnesses talk of groups of bandits with crisp, new military uniforms and walkie-talkie radios, evidence, perhaps, to back Rwanda's claim the Interahamwe are being airlifted supplies by Congolese President Laurent Kabila.

Rwanda and Uganda have backed splintered rebel groups fighting Kabila in the Congo war, while Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe support him.

Most of the time, the Interahamwe militia confine themselves to stealing what they need to survive. Some are apparently careful to avoid civilian casualties, others are more unforgiving of the slightest suspicion of "collaboration."

Elizabeth's only "crime" had been to flee into the forest with her 10 children, her husband, and all they owned, simply to try to avoid the war.

Ironically, both she and Gakuru are ethnic Hutus. But like most Congolese Hutus, they want no part in the Interahamwe's extremist agenda.

"The Interahamwe are angry with the Congolese for not supporting them," she said. "This is what they do to Congolese who refuse to hide them in their houses."

"They took everything I had and then they left."

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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