DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO.
CATTLE THEFTS.
According to a report by the BBC, over 180,000 head of cattle from the Congo, have been seized by soldiers then auctioned to Rwanda and Uganda, at discount prices in the last 2 years.
One farmer interviewed in North Kivu, on the Rwandan Congo border, Kasuku wa Ngeyu, who is the president of the Cattle Ranchers Association said "I lost 7,000 head of cattle in two weeks that were sold in a market in rebel controlled territory".
It appears the cattle were sold in Walikale, where there over one million starving refugees from the civil war.
Smaller farmers have seen Congolese soldiers stealing the cows, quite openly during the day.
The abattoir at Lake Kivu, has seen the price of beef double in recent months according to the manager Antoine Nzovu, who said "the most notorious thieves are from the Coalition of Congolese Patriotic Resistance, who measure a mans wealth by counting his cattle, they come by day or by night and take what they want, then operate a black market in beef".
In 2008,the two main fighting factions in the civil war, the Congolese army and the rebels had a cease fire, since that time the problems have escalated, as now both sides openly help themselves to cattle.
United Nations peacekeepers do nothing to stop the actions of the soldiers and rebels as their mission is solely peacekeeping..
"Its still the same war as 1994, where genocide killed 800 thousand people, between the Tutsis and the Hutus". Said farmer Nicole Merio, who runs 800 cows in the region.
