A man who goes by the name of Mad Dog cuts off a portion of a burning body to eat
A
man who goes by the name of Mad Dog cuts off a portion of a burning
body to eat, as the bodies of two lynched Muslim men are burned in a
street in Bangui, Central African Republic
Shocking
photographs have emerged of a cannibal by the name of Mad Dog eating
the flesh of a lynched Muslim man for the second time in as many weeks.
In
one, 'Mad Dog' - real name Ouandja Magloire - cuts a portion of meat
from the body of a murdered Muslim lying burning on a roundabout in the
capital of the Central African Republic, with the body of another a few
yards away.
Another
photograph shows him licking a bloodied knife as he stands over a body,
wearing the same T-shirt he was pictured in during the previous act of
cannibalism.
'Mad Dog' licks blood off a knife, as a crowd prepares to burn the body of a lynched Muslim man in Bangui
The horrific images were taken in Bangui on Sunday.
According
to The Associated Press, the men were killed by residents of the Sango
neighbourhood in revenge for the lynching of a taxi driver from Sango a
day earlier.
Two other Muslim passers-by escaped to the protection of French and African peacekeeping forces.
The agency understands that Magloire didn't take part in the killings, but turned up in the aftermath.
According to its source, he is the only person in the Central African Republic known to be carrying out acts of cannibalism.
Meanwhile
Catherine Samba-Panza, 59, was elected mayor of the Central African
Republic and used her first speech to appeal to both Christians and
Muslims to stop the fighting.
Speaking
to the Christian self-defence militia known as 'anti-balaka'
(anti-machete), Samba-Panza said: 'Show your support for my nomination
by giving the strong signal of laying down your weapons.
She issued a similar appeal to the members of mostly Muslim rebel group Seleka, telling them: 'Stop the suffering of the people.
'Starting today, I am the president of all Central Africans, without exclusion.
Men carry the body of a lynched Muslim man through a street in Bangui, Central African Republic, on Sunday
A French soldier looks on as the body of one of the lynched Muslim men burns
'The top priority is to stop people's suffering, to restore security and the authority of the state across the country.'
Samba-Panza,
who is the former mayor Bangui - where Mad Dog's attacks have taken
place - is a Christian but did not campaign on religious grounds.
In another development the European Union today agreed to send up to 1,000 troops to the region to help restore order.
The
mission, which will deploy in and around the capital and last up to six
months, is expected to involve a force numbering between 400 and 1,000.
The
troops will help back 1,600 French soldiers and the African Union's
MISCA force, which currently has 4,400 troops on the ground.
International donors also pledged $496 million (£302 million) in aid to the country this year.
Earlier in the month horrific footage emerged from Bangui of Magloire eating the leg of a Muslim who, according to the BBC, was hauled from a bus, battered and then stabbed before being set on fire.
Horrific:
Ouandja Magloire - who also calls himself 'Mad Dog' - is seen eating
the leg of a Muslim slaughtered by a rampaging Christian mob in the
Central African Republic
Magloire said that his action was revenge for the murders of his pregnant wife, his sister-in-law and her baby
Bloody: The charred and dismembered body is dragged through the streets with Magloire at the head of the mob
Killed: The body is dragged through the dusty streets by the cheering crowd
In the aftermath of the incident, Magloire grabbed hold of his leg and then began to devour it.
Magloire
told a BBC reporter at the time that his action was revenge for the
murders of his pregnant wife, his sister-in-law and her baby.
He claimed that Muslims were responsible and he was angry with them.
'They broke down the door and cut my baby in half. I promised I would get my revenge,' he said.
‘Mad Dog’ spotted his victim on a minibus and followed him after deciding he looked Muslim.
He gathered a crowd of about 20 Christian youths who forced the bus driver to stop and dragged him from the bus.
Without emotion he told the BBC: 'I poured petrol over him. I burned him. I ate his leg, right down the white bone.'
Witnesses did not intervene but recorded the footage on mobile phones, including the act of cannibalism.
A video shows his cheeks bulging as he consumes the flesh.
Witness
Jean-Sylvestre Tchya told news agency AFP: 'One of the individuals took
hold of an arm and went and bought some bread and starting chewing on
the flesh, along with his bread.
'The scene made many people vomit, and some cried out in horror.'
Another witness, Alain Gbabobou, said he watched a man wrap the head up and proclaim that he would 'feast on it'.
Violence:
People throw stones at a car transporting two children of an ex-Seleka
colonel at the 'UN crossroad' on Sunday in Bangui
Men brandish machets and knives to threaten Muslim people in Bangui
According
to The Sunday Telegraph, this may not have been an isolated incident,
with a source speaking of more than one person being eaten.
An aid worker told the paper: 'They were taking machetes to people and burning the bodies and eating them.'
Samba-Panza's
election comes 10 months after the Seleka rebels overthrew the
country's government and installed their leader, Michel Djotodia, as the
majority-Christian country's first Muslim president.
But
Djotodia proved powerless to control his fighters, and many went on a
rampage of killing, rape and looting targeting the Christian majority.
Some
Christian communities responded by forming self-defence militias and
attacking Muslims. Both sides are accused by rights watchdogs of major
abuses, and the United Nations has warned of a potential inter-religious
genocide.
Djotodia stood down under international pressure on January 10.
Shocking:
A man ate the leg of a Muslim in the Central African Republic's
capital, Bengui (pictured), in revenge for the murders of his pregnant
wife, his sister-in-law and her baby
So
far it has claimed around 1,000 lives, with the reports of cannibalism
bringing to mind the macabre tales associated with Jean Bedel Bokassa,
who ruled the CAR with an iron fist between 1966 and 1979.
He
was regarded by many as a brutal dictator and was accused of eating
human flesh, incorporating it in meals for visiting officials and
feeding slain opponents to animals.
He died in 1996 and received a posthumous pardon in 2010.
Some Christian fighters believe that human flesh makes them invincible and put chunks inside amulets that they wear
Comments
Post a Comment