Bokassa ‘seen at massacre jail’

Press, 26 May 1979, Page 9

Bokassa ‘seen at massacre jail’

TNZPA-Reuter London ] Emperor Bokassa may | personally have been in- | volved in the . reported | prison massacre of between ( 50 and 100 children in the Central African Empire, Amnesty International has said. It said yesterday that the 5 self-styled “father and pro-1 ■ lector of. -children” was re-j (ported to have been seen in j person at Ngaragba Prison, jin the capita], Bangui, at the( 'time the children were reIported to have been killed, ! there last month. The respected London-j i based human-rights organ-1 I isation first released details! I of the alleged massacre on] May 14. It said soldiers of the Emperor’s Imperial! Guard had rounded thej children up for throwing stones at official cars, including that of the Emperor.! Then they had stoned, j smothered, stabbed, or I beaten to death about 100 children, aged between eight and 16, it charged. The children had been protesting against an order issued in January by Bokassa compelling them to. wear uniforms. The uniforms cost about . $23 each — thej equivalent of a teacher’s] monthly salary in the po- | verty-stricken country —I land were reported to. be' (available only from a shop! I partly owned by Emperor j ißokassa’s wife. I On Tuesday, General Svl-j I vestre Bangui, Emperor Bo'kassa’s Ambassador in Paris, confirmed, the Amnesty re-; port of the massacre in the; I land-locked farmer French; | colony, and said’he was re-] 'signing his post. I Mr Richard Reoch, head I of Amnesty International’s

press and communications section, told a London news) .conference yesterday, that |since its Paris office issued: the statement on May 14 the) ; organisation had received: I new’ information. He said some of the child- ; ten who had survived the al-[ jlcged prison ordeal, and hadj 'subsequently been released,: I claimed to have seen : Emperor Bokassa in person [at the prison. He said the arrests were reported to have taken place over three nights — April 17, 18, and 19 — not just on the night of April 19 as stated in the May 14 reports. I He added: “The beatings lof the children took place | not only in prison, but also jas thev were being arrested [and taken to prison. I “ T he children w r ere packed very tightly into several cells and left without [ food and drink until the [next day. This alone led to as many as 28 deaths from [suffocation and exhaustion.” “A eroup of children, possibly 27. were separated and [stoned to death. All the stor[ies agreed it was 'the Impe[rial Guard that was respnn-j [ sible, either by throwing ' t ton»s or by burying the children under stones.”