Again, the Savages

Once again, the savage Jeunesse of Kwilu province were on the rampage. This time the rebel killers chose the helpless little Roman Catholic mission at Makungika, 30 miles from Kikwit, the provincial capital. The attack came late one afternoon just as the mission staff--five French Canadian brothers, three Belgian Jesuit priests, five young Belgian lay teachers, and two wives--were going to the refectory for coffee.

"There were about 30 of them," recalls Brother Maurice Desfosses, 47, the mission superior. "They had wild, glassy eyes and were naked to the waist. They had been smoking hemp." After asking for money, the rebels ordered the missionaries to their knees. "They let go with arrows and guns," said Canadian Sacred Heart Brother Jean-Guy Bruneau, 29. "Marechal [one of the lay teachers] fell on me, dead. I took a shot through the wrist that almost tore off my finger." Brother Maurice tried to run, but was hit in the leg with an arrow. He got up again and ran on. "Kill him, kill him," a rebel screamed behind him. Another arrow struck him under the arm, bringing more blood than pain. Not everybody was as lucky. Jacques Bollaerts, 25, a former Belgian paratrooper, tried to shield one of the women as they ran. "Faster, Odette, I'm covering you," he cried just before he fell dead, hit in the head and leg.

As the killers hacked at the body of one of the dead, the remaining survivors fled in all directions. Brother Jean-Guy and Brother Raymond Bussiere, 25, made it to the refectory. "Brother Raymond was bleeding terribly," recalled Brother Jean-Guy as he lay in a Leopoldville hospital last week. "I tore off some of my habit, drenched it in blood and smeared his face and back, then mine, to make us look dead. I was certain that we would not survive." Incredibly, the end never came. Into the refectory strode several of the Jeunesse. Bui seeing the gory "bodies," the marauders turned away and left.

What saved the rest of the mission from wholesale slaughter was the sudden arrival of a small U.N. plane, with Canadian Brigadier General Jacques Dextraze aboard. Buzzing the rebels, the plane succeeded in alerting a nearby band of Congolese regulars to their presence. When the government troops arrived, the rebels had vanished into the bush, doubtless to plot their next assault in terrorized Kwilu.

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