DRC: Massacre in the jungle

The soldiers who arrived in Makombo, a remote district in northern Congo on 14 December last year were practised at this sort of thing. Wearing Ugandan or Congolese army uniforms, they did everything at first to allay the suspicions of villagers, as they searched for areas where children would gather – markets, churches or water points. Once they had identified their prey, they tied them with rope or wire into human chains up to 15 people long, and forced them to carry off the goods they had looted.