Thou Shalt Not Kill: Genocide in Central Africa

"Yesterday, near Ruhaha, I noticed a group of people had gathered. Two policemen and two soldiers had caught some young men and were yelling at them and beating them, because they had scars in their hairlines, that made them part of the plot to overthrow the government last Saturday. They took them away and shot them two by two. There were thirty-nine men and boys killed." An elder. As he stopped behind the colossal vehicle, Tony saw movement above the tailgate. Three huge rifles came out from the top of the truck, over the tailgate. They were pointed directly at him. Tony, driving in the night. The screams of a male voice overpowered the whole area. A soldier, with a large billy-club in his hand, was beating a young man over and over again with the strap. It was about ten inches long and cone-shaped, with a diameter of two inches at the top, narrowing to one inch at the handle. The soldier was shouting and whipping the young man, all over his bare body. Then he assaulted a second boy. Some policemen carried their bodies to a hut, and each prisoner fell to the ground with a resounding thud. The next day Jean-Bosco told Fr. Tony that three of the young Bahutu had died from the beatings. At Puma. The Apostle, Saint John, says: "Anyone who says he loves God and hates his brother is a liar." Strong language! But didn't Bishop Moulin accuse all the BanyaButovu of being liars? One Sunday, he had preached at Butovu: "You are weak in obeying the sixth commandment (adultery); even weaker, in the seventh (stealing). But your greatest fault is the eighth! (lying)." Liars, liars, all of them liars, Tony thought.