A mob
stoned to death a suspected terrorist before burning his corpse and
eating him in revenge for a series of attacks in Congo that have left
100 people dead.
Witnesses
said the young man, who has not been identified, aroused suspicion on a
bus in the north east of the country when passengers discovered he
could not speak the local Swahili language and that he was carrying a
machete.
Witnesses said he was then stoned to death by the crowd before his body was burned and eaten.
The incident in the town of Beni comes following a number of overnight raids in the area blamed on the Islamist group ADF-NALU.
The
Ugandan rebels are thought to have massacred more than 100 people this
month, using hachets and machetes to kill their victims.
Speaking
from the town of Beni, Congo's President Joseph Kabila said the
ADF-NALU militants would face the same fate as the rebel movement M23,
which was defeated by a UN-backed government offensive last year.
Mr Kabila said: 'There is no question of negotiation with the terrorists.
'They will be defeated as was the case with the M23. And it will be very soon.'
ADF-NALU
is an alliance of groups opposed to the Ugandan government that has
operated from bases in neighboring Congo since the mid-2000s.
Witnesses say the man was set upon
after riding a bus and the passengers became suspicious when they found
him carrying a machete
The
movement was blamed for the deaths of 14 people, who were killed early
on Thursday in the village of Kampi ya Chui, bringing the total death
toll this month to at least 107, said Teddy Kataliko, president of the
Civil Society of Beni.
Tensions
ran high in the town this morning with around 100 demonstrators
blocking the road from the airport into town, throwing stones and waving
machetes to demand greater government protection against the rebels.
Local government officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Earlier
in the week, the government sought to downplay the threat posed by the
group, which it had previously said was defeated in an operation earlier
this year.
UN soldiers stand guard in the town of Beni in Congo earlier this week following attacks that have left 100 people dead
Estimates
of its strength vary greatly, but the website of the UN's peacekeeping
mission in Congo estimates it has around 500 fighters.
The
Ugandan government has said ADF-NALU is allied with Somalia's al
Qaeda-linked al Shabaab movement, but analysts say the nature of these
ties is not clear, despite the ADF-NALU's clear Islamist ideology.
In
his speech on Friday, Mr Kabila appealed for public support for a
ramping up of its offensive against the group, but did not specify what
that would entail.
Congolese president Joseph Kabila
arrived in Beni on Wednesday and gave a speech saying that there was no
question of negotiation with terrorists
He
added: 'I call on the population to support the army because the
victory against the M23 was because the population was behind the army.
'I call on young people to join the army in great numbers.'
Mr
Kabila also defended the UN peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO
following criticism from locals that it had failed to defend them and
had even collaborated with ADF-NALU.
Crowds
of mainly young men attacked several peacekeeping facilities with
stones and bows and arrows last week, forcing the evacuation of some
staff.
The U.N. mission says it has stepped up patrols in the area in the wake of the massacres.
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