On Tuesday of this week traffic in Kinshasa was stopped by at least 300 women protesting the recent atrocities committed against indigenous inhabitants and other civilians in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Members of the group Concours de Femmes Congolaises marched through the streets, holding a prayer vigil and echoing recent demands made by indigenous Pygmies for an international criminal tribunal to address the reported acts of cannibalism and murder by rebel soldiers in the Ituri region and other areas. In the wake of the UN mission’s recent report confirming these incidents, the women called on all belligerent groups to respect the ceasefire agreed to on December 17 of last year. Another women’s group, Les Femmes de la Zone de l’Ituri, has also accused a rebel group allied with the government of practicing cannibalism in their region.
