15 04 14 Reuters – Congo Militia Chief 'Morgan' Killed in Army Firefight

 

He was being brought by the army to the town of Bunia when he attacked
the soldiers escorting him, government spokesman Lambert Mende told
Reuters.

 

“He caused a shootout which resulted in the deaths of two army soldiers
and two of his own men. He tried to flee but suffered a serious injury,”
he said.

 

Mende said that Morgan was taken by helicopter for treatment but died on the way from excessive bleeding.

 

Morgan has repeatedly attacked populations in the Okapi Fauna Reserve, a World Heritage site, since 2012.

 

U.N. experts said in December he switched his focus from poaching
elephants to attacking gold mines. They accuse him and his men of
kidnapping people to carry looted goods and of forcing women into being
sexual slaves for militia members.

 

They said in another report last July that former captives had told them
the group, known as “Mai Mai Morgan”, had engaged in cannibalism on
several occasions.

 

Morgan's militia is just one part of a complex and deadly network of
armed groups in Congo's lawless east. Most of these groups finance their
operations by competing for control of Congo's vast deposits of
minerals, including gold, diamonds, tin, copper and coltan.

 

In November, the Congolese army, alongside U.N. peacekeeping troops,
defeated the main M23 rebel group, seen as the greatest threat to
President Joseph Kabila in more than a decade.

 

The government has had an arrest warrant out for Morgan since November
2012 on charges of war crimes and crimes of sexual violence.

 

Government spokesman Mende said earlier on Monday that not all of
Morgan's  followers had surrendered and urged them to do so. Morgan's
group operates deep in the jungle, a long way from where M23 was based,
and its numbers are not known.