| 04/07/2005 |
| Massive looting reported in Congo |
Xinhua
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KINSHASA, July 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Massive looting swept a western city of the Democratic Republic of Congo Sunday, leaving one person dead and several others injured, officials told China's Xinhua News Agency.
Hundreds of soldiers went on the rampage around 11:00 a.m. local time in Mbandaka, beating and looting citizens after one soldier was hacked to death, according to Kemal Saiki, spokesman for the United Nations mission in Congo.
The hours-long looting spree came to a halt late in the day after the authorities sent in troops to boost security in the city, said the UN spokesman, who denied that the riot had been politically motivated.
There were no Chinese citizens in Mbandaka which lies on the Congo river some 600 km northeast of the capital city of Kinshasa,local officials said.
Yves Mobando, governor of the province of Equator where Mbandaka is located, said the soldiers found a dismembered body oftheir colleague near their barracks before going out to the streets to vent the anger on shops and houses of citizens.
The soldiers were members of the People's Armed Forces of Congo,a faction to be integrated into the new military after the Africancountry ended its five-year civil war in 2003, officials said.
The incident was also linked to the plight of Congolese soldiers, whose monthly pay averages 10 US dollars. Earlier, there had been occasional reports of small-scale looting by soldiers. Enditem
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