Is this actually widespread?(the cannibalism). One ref is a dead link and the other is a brief mention. From Makelo’s testimony it does not sound isolated(hunted as game animals).
Were acts of barbarity, including cannibalism, common in the Congo war? Fuck yeah.
Were Pygmies vicitims of these acts? It would be astonishing if they were not.
Were pygmies more often victims than other people? Since they were caught between two opposing out-of-control armies, it would be hard to see how they could not be.
I remember news stories about the Congo war. One of the major concerns was “bush meat”, that the armies were shooting and eating anything that moved, including endangered species that had notlearned to avoid humans. Another bunch of stories mentioned pygmies as the side dish sometimes. One story I recall was someone complaining that the pygmies were conscripted to bring in bush meat, and as an incentive, if they didn’t make their quota by hunting they became the entree.
I understand crazy shit went on in the war and pygmies were victims of it no doubt, but this is one of the few cases I’ve ever seen where dehumanization of a repressed people made the leap to cannibalism. Its even more baffling to consider it appears there are no stereotypical short pygmies anymore(if there ever were seems controversial) so we’re talking about adults who would maybe be called short in a western nation.
I guess I was wondering if this was only war time insanity, or is actually ongoing.