Three entire families, as well as eight adults and two children were
massacred last night in the village of Katogota, situated near
Kamanyola (60km south of Bukavu and 90km north of Uvira, South Kivu,
Democratic Republic of Congo). According to our MISNA sources (who
will remain anonymous), the massacre was carried out by soldiers of
the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD-Goma) in retaliation. In
fact, yesterday afternoon a group of Mayi Mayi ambushed a pick-up
truck near the Lubarika market, close to Katogota, killing 4 people
including an RCD-Goma officer. On hearing the news, a great part of
the local population fled the area for fear of reprisal, which
'unsurprisingly' then occurred. 'If the majority of civilians had
not fled - explained our sources - the toll of the massacre, which
is still provisional, would have been considerably higher. The
soldiers responsible for the reprisal attack went from house to
house, killing anyone they found on their path'. Among the victims
already found and identified, of which the MISNA has a detailed
list, there was also the wife of Mr. Kabyona, who was drowned in a
latrine. The term Mayi Mayi indicates spontaneous groups of
Congolese nationalist partisans. (BO)