Troops Killed 300 Civilians, Group Says

The human rights group Azadho said President Laurent Kabila’s troops last month massacred more than 300 civilians in the eastern market town of Butembo. The group said troops carried out the killings while quelling a rebellion by Mai-Mai tribal warriors who helped Kabila seize power in the former Zaire last May. The Mai-Mai have since been at odds with Kabila’s army. In a statement demanding an independent inquiry, Azadho said the Mai-Mai had captured a part of Butembo before troops--sent in to evict them on Feb. 20--began killing civilians. “It was then that the soldiers began firing on innocent civilians, apparently in order to exert moral pressure on the Mai-Mai to leave,” the statement said.