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Subscribe to RSSA Swedish safari boss, his British pilot and 13 of their staff have been accused of torturing and killing 18 people in the Central African Republic, according to reports.
However, Erik Mararv, of Central African Wildlife Adventures, and 24-year-old aviator David Simpson say they simply discovered the bodies and were arrested when they reported the gruesome find to the authorities, according to Britain's Channel 4 News.
The people killed in the massacre were burned with hot water and then hacked to death with machetes.
Simpson said he spotted the bodies while flying over the southeast of the country, near Bakouma, and he believes they were killed by Joseph Kony’s infamous Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
Simpson’s brother Paul told Channel 4 that he thought they were being blackmailed, while a member of Conciliation Resources, a charity that campaigns for peace and has worked on the Kony problem, suggested they were being “scapegoated” because of the inability of the authorities to tackle the LRA.
'I had nothing to do with it'
Despite being held in jail for more than six weeks, Simpson has access to a cellphone and a laptop computer, although communications are difficult.
“Now I have been forced to sign a piece of paper which states that I have been charged with murdering 13 people," he told the Daily Mail newspaper. "It is just ridiculous. Everyone knows I had nothing to do with it. They know it was Kony.
In Gulu, the site of a 2004 massacre and warlord Joseph Kony's hometown, people are still terrorized that he might return. NBC's Rohit Kachroo reports.
“It’s all about money. They think because I am white, I must be wealthy," he added. "When they first arrested me, my bail was set at one million euros, which is just ludicrous. I do not know what is going to happen. It’s like a nightmare. I’m sleeping on the floor with no blankets or mattress. I just want this to be over."
'Big fish' nabbed: Troops capture senior Kony commander
Speaking from Gillamoor, England, David’s father Peter Simpson told Channel 4 that their situation was “about as stressful a thing as you could ever wish to happen to anybody.”
But he added that he was “positive he [David] will come back.”
NYT: In vast jungle, US troops aid hunt for Kony
Paul Simpson told Channel 4 that because it was "two white men who reported it, they held them and arrested them and blackmailed them."
A viral video that takes aim at African warlord Joseph Kony has racked up nearly 64 million views online. NBC's Savannah Guthrie reports on the phenomenon.
'Face-saving exercise'
Caesar Poblicks, of Conciliation Resources, told the broadcaster that the authorities in Central African Republic were “kind of covering up” what really happened.
“It’s a face-saving exercise where he [Simpson] is actually scapegoated for lack of ability to actually apprehend those who have done this kind of activity,” he added.
Central African Wildlife Adventures describes itself as “the most exclusive safari company in Central Africa,” that offers safaris in “the heart of a wilderness within the heart of Africa.”
Sequel to 'Kony 2012' video released
“In the eastern Central African Republic lies a vast territory … totally free of any human encroachment,” its website says.
It says that none of the area where the company operates “has ever been hunted by white men before.”
“Most of it has never even been hunted by natives… It’s simply too far away. The area is very special in the way that we can combine savannah hunting with forest hunting … You may in the morning hunt the majestic Lord Derby Eland and in the evening track one of our forest trails for the elusive Bongo,” it added. “Or why not call for lion? We entirely hunt our lions either by tracking or by calling in early mornings or late afternoons. This is one of the most adrenaline rushing hunts one can ever experience.”
In 'Kony' town, video is hardly a sensation
The U.K. Foreign Office advises people not to travel to the southeastern part of the country, including Bakouma.
The State Department warns that “armed rebel groups, bandits, and poachers present real dangers, and the Central African government is unable to guarantee the safety of visitors in most parts of the country.”
“The continued presence of the Lord’s Resistance Army in eastern CAR poses a particular safety and security threat,” it adds in online information about the country.
It says U.S. citizens should not travel outside the capital Bangui unless it is essential.
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shows the mentality of these thugs! the british need to send send there special ops people in and snag these guys,shoot anybody that gets in way! these people are stupid and ignorant...they are as bad as the one they are hunting.talk about the goverment being crooked,this just says it out loud! just a bunch of jack asses leading the country.
SEMPER FI
DANNY
There's always the possibility that these guys, who after all were advertising themselves as an extreme safari, actually did it.
Lot of sick fakks out there would pay plenty to up their game from wildlife to actual humans, and a lawless place like that sounds like the perfect opportunity to indulge in all the sadism one can want. I mean, there are plenty of other peaceful places in Africa to go on a safari, like South Africa and Zambia and Tanzania. Something fishy about running a tourism business in the middle of a war zone like that.
"thugs" The local Military and Police force or the LRA?
Khalid-
Right, they went there to get their murderous kicks, then went to authorities to report a massacre that would have otherwise gone unnoticed... Logic FAIL.
Swedish and British Special Ops will have to handle this one.
Don't go to f$%%g Africa.
Totally agree. as long as we keep having Westerners going over to thoes damme as places, the bull s%@* going to continue ! Goverments need to banned or ristrict their citizens, from traveling to thoes countries!
Hillary... where are you?
public593: Seriously? What part of "Land of the Free" don't you understand?
I agree, if you go over to a place like that it is your problem if you get thrown in prison or hacked to death. People need to wise up. Mexico is the same way at this time. War and violence. Stay away from it or you will get cought up in it. America can't BAN people from going over there, but they should issue a harsh warning to anyone that travels, and tell them that they are on their own once they leave our borders. This also goes for those people who want to "sail around the world" and get lost out in the oceans or cought by pirates. C'mon people- you know what the consequences can be. So unless YOU have the $$ to pay the military or coast guard- find a different hobby.
@ Khalid,
Have you ever been to South Africa? I have. It has one of the highest crime and murder rates per capita in the world. You would be better off going to Mexico on safari and hunting for cartel hit men. It would be safer and you would be doing the law abiding Mexican citizens a favor. Granted, most of the killings down there are between different cartels, but average people do get caught up in it.
P.S. to above paragraph,
What is most sicking is the fact that South Africa has the HIGHEST rates of child and baby rape in the world. A PROVEN FACT! I say again, CHILD AND BABY RAPE. That alone should keep any sane person from wanting to visit that sh-thole country. The only way I would ever go back there is if they changed the rules of engagement and let us liquidate the trash wholesale.
"The only way I would ever go back there is if they changed the rules of engagement and let us liquidate the trash wholesale."
And who or what in this case are the trash must be liquidated wholesale. Racist bastard! You should thank your stars those generally peace-loving black folks didn't decide to get their pound of flesh. You can sulk all you want, but white supremacy is gone forever in South Africa- gone, dead, caput! Don't even start!
@ Sundiata,
1. South African is not a race, it is a nationality. You need to learn the difference between the two. That is like saying you are racist against a religion, it makes no sense.
2. The trash I am referring to is anyone, reguardless of skin color who would rape a child or baby. Do you condone that kind of atrocious behavior? That's what it sounds like. Or maybe you a one of them that practice that perversion.
3. " Generally peace loving black folks " ? Are these the same ones that are causing the abhorent rape, murder, theft and car-jacking rates in South Africa? That's real peace loving isn't it? Are they the same ones whom cannot keep a stable government for any length of time because they keep killing each other? Or maybe it is the " Peace loving " Hutus and Tutsis whom caused a genocide by hacking 500,000 of each other into pieces? Maybe your Somali people whom are so obviously peace loving could teach the rest of us a thing or two, huh? I think not. Are they the same one that have murdered over 3000 white farmers in South Africa? The farmers that employed them.
I am in no way, shape or form condoning what the old apartheid government of South Africa did, but you need to get a clue before you post such obviously asinine statements as you did with " the generally peace loving black people ". You do know what " asinine " means, right?
And yes, I have been in a few countries on that continent during my military career. I've seen it first hand.
War Ranger,
'You do know what " asinine " means, right?'
Let's clap for War Ranger for throwing in a couple of Latinate words. It does legitimise his claim to superiority over the black African, doesn't it? But his effort doesn't impress me. I'll offer him a little piece of advice captured in the African saying: "If you haven't visited another's farm, never say yours is bigger." It's sufficient to tell him that I was brought up on classical education, taught English in an American university, and am unimpressed by his military service. I've observed on this site that Americans with military service feel a sense of superiority and entitlement. That's understandable. But I'm not a national of a warmongering nation. Where I come from, military service is not a road to glory for us: education and social service are. So your exploits in killing foreigners in the name of freeing the same doesn't impress me.
That you're able to say that South Africa isn't a race but a nationality just endorses what I said about black South Africans being generally peaceful. Or you don't understand "generally"? What if the majority of black South Africans, including the governing elite, decided to get their pound of flesh by unleashing violence on whites, which is something whites would have done if the shoe was on the other foot? What if the ANC had taken a position that SA must be black instead of rainbow and denied citizenship rights to the white race, which, as American history suggests, is something the white race would have done, if the shoe was on the other foot?
I have no hatred whatsoever toward the white race. But throughout history the white race has shown the most depravity even in the face of the hospitality of others. How do explain going to a foreign country/territory seizing over 80% of the arable land of your host, while turning the indigenes into slaves own their land? As I said, you should thank God the majority of blacks are not vengeful. Btw, did you read the story about the British guy who attempted to rape a Chinese girl in Beijing? Was he white or black? Whites don't rape, right?
As for the instances you cite of the Rwandan genocide, it only goes to show your abject lack of knowledge about the history of Africa and the role played by colonialism in identity formations. Don't look past the depravity of the white race in explaining that genocide. Of course, I blame black Africans for being so stupid as to allow themselves to be ever manipulated, divided and dominated by the white race.
Trying to blame everything on someone else will not help you advance in the correct direction. What I stated are historical facts. Blaming someone for your shortcomings as a race is your own doing. Take responsibility for it and try to make it better. I don't see White people down there doing the crimes.
Also,
Did you not comprehend what I wrote? I stated "trash", i.e., murderers, drug dealers, baby/child rapist or any rapist for that matter. You should only be offended if you fall into that category. Do you? If you are one of them, you probably don't care what others think or feel anyway. You label me a racist, but at no time did I ever say blacks as a whole. I would and do say the same thing about any country, mine included. It doesn't matter what color your skin is, if you cannot function within the laws, then you have no business remaining in society, alive or dead. You serve no purpose other than to make life miserable for everyone else. Hence, rid your society of the trash. We need to do the same thing here.
You are the one that decided to throw out the race card, not me. I simply stated documented facts as to the crime rates within South Africa. Was I wrong on my statistics? No. Some of my closest buddies while in the Army were Black. One of the gentlemen that I play golf with on a weekly basis is Black. You are the one that that is trying to blame your nations/continents shortcomings on others, not me. And if you want to try to pull the slavery crap, remember, Blacks are not the only race of people that have put up with past slavery and it was your own people that sold the slaves to European slave traders. Or that before the American Civil War, freed slaves even had their own slaves. Kind of perpetuating the cycle there were'nt you?
Your biggest problem is blaming others for your problems instead of fixing them. Enough said. I'm done.
Listen to what I said: "Of course, I blame black Africans for being so stupid as to allow themselves to be ever manipulated, divided and dominated by the white race."
I'm as much annoyed by the short-sightedness, nay, the foolishness, of the African elites as by the depravity of the white race. In fact I put the emphasis on the former because there is little hope the latter would change. Nothing has changed in the moral constitution of the white race.
Since you mentioned civil war, I'm sure you're aware that Americans killed Americans in the Civil War, just as Europeans killed Europeans in their dastardly wars they like to call World Wars, just as Rwandans killed Rwandans in their own civil war. But I'm also sure you'd like to think that the American and European wars were marks of civilisation, while African civil wars are marks of bestiality! As always, the European race has two different sets of lenses, one in which it sees its goodness and superiority reflected, the other in which it sees the opposite reflected on its Others. You have a long way to go in becoming human! To start with, don't sign up to go and kill foreigners in the name of freeing them. One would like to think that after 2,500 years since Rome's martial elites engaged in that barbarism, ostensibly to enrich themselves or shore up their political career, the world would have made some progress in becoming genuinely civilised.
To hell with him. hope they crucify him. he deserves no better than the animals he massacres.
Just one more reason to stay away from the backwards, corrupt, uneducated countries of Africa.
Sounds like you forgot to take your medication again tommy.
Tommy
It is called Hunting Game managment! look it up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting
Because killing animals always helps them ??????
tommy-
Crucify them?? Because somehow YOU think it's wrong to kill an animal, but it's okay to wish for a human to be CRUCIFIED?? Check your priorities, bud. You've gone so self-righteous that your about a week away from becoming a suicide bomber.
There are legitimate reasons for hunting licenses, like the huge money they bring to help poor countries manage the wildlife and protect it. Sounds contradictory, but it works- except when the host country is corrupt anyway then all bets are off. I agree that animals need much more protection than humans do. But this pilot and hunter are victims of yet another corrupt and slimy African government. Makes you wonder why neither Africans not their descendants in the US ever amount to much, and if there might be something to the mental genetic inferiority theory from way back after all. After all, our President is half-white.
@ Foxy-Seal
You know racism is definitely still alive when people would much rather address the worth of blacks rather than the more serious issue of murder. How much do you consider yourself worth? If the descendants of Africans never amounted to much, you would not be able to enjoy alot of the modern conveniences of today which you do. I pity your ignorance and bigotry. You obviously feel race has everything to do with a person's worth rather than morals, values, individuality, love, and everything else that makes us who we are as human beings. "No man is an island." No one lives unto themselves nor dies unto themselves. You can go on living life dividing the world into color grids based on your own twisted ideals of self worth, or you can accept that these different colors and races and cultures are what make this country worth living in. The ball is in your court.
Name one thing American blacks have contributed to society that you claim allows me to a enjoy modern lifestyle. Besides rock and roll. Nothing. Zero. And look at Africa. Corrupt to the core. I am only looking at the facts and extrapolating. I am not a bigot. I have black friends.
Foxy-SEAL Black Americans have ONLY had about 40 years of relative freedom in the US to advance and in that time a mixed person was elected to President. Imagine what will happen in the next generation.
As far as cutting off limbs, that was introduced by the Belgiums to stop Africans from stealing diamonds that the Belgiums stole from the Africans. Ever wonder why Antwerp is the capitol of the diamond industry when there are no diamonds being dug here?
Come on, open your eyes. Give everyone a chance and they will excel.
Foxy - SEAL
Just a few things you may enjoy or that make your life better. There are many more inventions and innovations out there, this is an incomplete list. -
Trains - Elijah McCoy (as in the "real McCoy"; escaped slave later returned to US) - significant improvements to locomotives with the oil dripping cup
Lightbulbs - Louis Latimer invented the carbon filament - in every incandescant lightbulb today.
Peanut butter - George Washington Carver
Traffic lights and gas masks - Garrett Morgan
Electronic controls for pacemakers, computers, and guided missels - Otis Boykin
Blood Banks - Dr. Charles Drew
Potato Chips - George Crum
One might argue that potato chips are not a positive part of the modern lifestyle, but lightbulbs, computers, efficient rail transport, blood banking, and traffic lights certainly are.
Foxy seal...
Frederick Jones, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_McKinley_Jones
Try that link. You may be surprised.
And I for one am very thankful for the potato chip invention!
Foxy seal...They contributed Martin Luther King..."Men should be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin." If that is so, you are an epic failure as a human being.
Rogue, hard to believe blacks did all that when it was during a time when they had no rights. I think some people out there are rewriting history.
Yes, this is exactly what white safari people like to do in Africa: hack people to pieces with machetes...not! Africa is a basket case. Common people were far better off under the colonial system.
You mean common white people, of course. The people that lived there were certainly much better off before the European colonials came, carved the continent into territories that never made sense from anyone's point of view, and then set the different ethnic groups against each other. Oh yeah - I forget - that is ancient history and shouldn't have any bearing on the the basket case that Africa is now, right? Wrong.
It has everything with why these countries are not stable. I'm amazed that people still wonder why Africa is such a mess. Well, actually, I'm not so surprised. People never bother to find anything out, they just are too self-righteous and smug in their own 'superiority'.
Yoweee! Here come dat blue-eye debil agin!
So as a white person, I'm responible for not only african-americans inability to co-exist in society; but negros everywhere.WOW! It must be true when AA's always say;
'not dey fault"!
Ummm... I didn't say anything about what you were responsible for, but if you want the responsibility you can take it. My post was only about what Max said when he said "the common people were better off under the colonial system". In truth, the colonial system completely trashed any semblance of regional/local cultures and treated the natives as barely suited for cleaning the toilets. Then they skedaddled, and now everyone wonders why its such a mess.
Bris...Better take another look at that history book. Before colonialism, there were territorial wars and tribal feuds just as there are today--and they were just as brutal. Colonialism didn't change that and it didn't cause it.
Colonialism did institutionalize it. It created borders across tribal lands, put rival tribes in the same countries and territories, and set up institutions to keep them at each others throats and off balance. I'm not saying it was paradise - just saying that everyone back then knew who controlled which areas, and most (not all) tribal wars were small, localized, and in many respects ritualized. The governments in most countries that were established after the European colonials left were crippled from the start. And now we wonder why they're basket cases? Try chopping Europe up into some random chunks of territory with no regard to cultural differences or ethnicity, beat the people into submission for 100 years or more, then walk away. See how long before everything breaks down.
Like I said earlier - my response was mainly aimed at the statement that they were better off under a colonial system. I don't think so - not by a long shot.
I don't defend or condone colonialism,but most of them did not just walk away. in fact, they bought africans almost into the 20th century before africans liberated themselves. now they don't have time to maintain their infrastructure,they're too busy chopping each other up with big knives.
They raped the continent for whatever resources they could before they were forced to leave. Then the people that took over did exactly as their previous overlords were doing. The colonials didn't do squat for the Africans - they only did it for themselves.
quote from Blood Diamond , TIF .
Yeah...definitely fits the MO of Swedes and Brits to scald and machete to death humans.
I think the authorities need some CSI training.
Just one more reason for Westerners to stay out of Africa and let them solve their own problems. If they kill each other in the process, so what. All the human and monetary aid we've given them for decades has barely made a dent because you're are dealing with immoral people who don't place any value on human life except their own individually.
Maybe you shold loook at some History to understand how things have arrrived at this point.
CEO, agreed. Why are we wasting our time and money on people with corrupt leaders and little will or ability to take care of themselves. It's like the 5th century meeting the 21st. Similar to Afghanistan. We've given them billions and they can't seem to get their act together. It like throwing money down the drain.
CEO- while I agree with you that we should stay out- not EVERY person in Africa is corrupt. People can not help where they are born. The government there is VERY corrupt, and "surprise" they are not all black. There are MANY whites living in South Africa. Just more blacks.
The corrupt are not "killing each other", they are killing innocent people (mainly the children and women.) It is a horrible situation, and the innocent people are terrified and stuck because the government rules everything.
They are screwed. But, live by the sword. I think the lions will sleep better tonight.
Right, Leroy. Live without empathy, die without empathy. It applies to them, and to YOU, btw.
Right back at you Jr.
I can't imagine why anyone would want to visit Africa, even for safaries. No government, total lawlessness, warfare, violence...no thanks.
"No government, total lawlessness, warfare, violence" Sounds like the US/Mexico border to me.
I wouldn't visit there either.
I can remember one of my college professors telling us about a trip he took to Africa with his family. I forget the exact country, but just as they were about to board the plane back to the U.S. at the end of their vacation, an announcement came over the loud speakers at the airport telling them that all flights had been cancelled and that the government had been overthrown. An hour later another announcement said the coup had been put down and flights would resume shortly. I have absolutely no interest in going to any country in Africa. And Mexico isn't much better. Too much instability and violence. Makes Washington, DC and Chicago look tame.
9kman: You lump all of Africa into one entity? So Morocco is the same as Burundi? I have been to several countries in Africa (D.R. Congo, Sudan and Tunisia to name a few) and they are most certainly not one entity. Are you saying that South Africa and Algeria have no government?
Yeah but Algeria is run by Arabic people and South Africa was developed by white Europeans, so you kind of shot yourself in the foot with that one.
He said Africa has no government. Clearly it does in all but a few cases.
The real joke will be when the locals march him out with his buddies and execute them.
No good deed goes unpunished. I hope they get out safely and alive.
It is time to take our govt back before we become a third world country overrun with tribal people.No,I'm not talking about Native Americans
problem with America now is that there are so many warring tribes trying to control everything--white tribe- black tribe- hispanic tribe-asian tribe
No one is interested in American people as a whole.
I am. I hate all the division. If you are an American that should come first. The low life's of all groups, are the ones causing the trouble. They are blaming all their troubles on others and fomenting diversionary strife. By fomenting this strife they can cause riots in which they can commit their criminal activities.
Only in a place populated by corrupt immoral primatives would a thing like this happen. In Europe, no. North America, no. Some of Asia, no. Australia, no. Most of South America but not central America, no. Civilized human beings have no business going into places inhabited by primative savages. Period. Leave them to live their lives in the squalor they can't ever seem to rise out of.
Throughout history barbarians like to call others uncivilised. But I can assure you that if you visit my country, you'd feel safer than you ever have been in your American jungle. When you step out into the day, you wouldn't have to worry about racial profiling and discrimination. Instead, you'd be welcomed with ritual hospitality, because custom demands it. When you step into the night, you wouldn't have to worry about hate crime, whether you're wearing a hoodie or a suit. In the next quarter century, Westerners would be begging re-entry into Africa in search of jobs and opportunities. Mark it on the wall.
Looks like whitey gettin framed ..
How many nations in Africa are on the edge of being a failed state, when the cops start arresting supposedly rich white people for reporting crimes then you have to suspect the govt there isnt doing so well. Any higher up govt bureaucrat should know how tourism would be affected and quash this arrest, means the govt doesn't have effective control of its police. Means the police is just a group of guys with guns=criminal gang.
Maybe Al and Jesse could help out.
Safari hunters? I hope they all get executed for the crimes they didn't comit since they won't get kileld for the ones they do comit. Screw them.
PUG
Damn, you're stupid!!
Racism.......pure and simple. Racism against whites. It seems blacks have learned nothing from their own history. Kind of sad and pathetic, isn't it?
They should have Kony Safari's to hunt down track and kill Kony and his murderous associates. No trial just shoot to kill. Same for the Somali's and their pirate campaign. Shoot to kill, no mercy, no prison time.
Reason # 1,000,001 not to go to Africa.
Africa is the laboratory and case study for population reduction, poverty, crimes against humanity, the testing place for the banking cartels practices in exploiting resources, extreme austerity measures, Vaccines test subjects, using mercury and life polio virus, causing mass death financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others.
There is no place on earth with every type of depravity against a society, no clean water, no MFG, starvation of children, women and men. Sex slave industry, you name it and it started here, buy those whom said they would help.
I don't mean the good people sending donations to help from feed the children. It is what we can expect in our de industrialized society, if we continue on the path we are on.
The debate here is in your face, to keep you in the left and right paradoxical think box.
The Kony movement is pure propaganda, to move thinking in the opposite direction, while they have another agenda. It is because along time ago they remain an oppressed society held down by the few as they not only see them as animals, but they think of us the same way.
Study history.. and the truth will set you free...
mathuin: "Just one more reason to stay away from the backwards, corrupt, uneducated countries of Africa."
How many Africans do you know that are uneducated? You guys are really full of it. Have you asked yourself what those "Westerners" were doing in the middle of a war zone? Sick heads!
These guys didn't do this. Not because I don't think white people are capable of killing, but because of how these people were killed. If some sort of depraved, wealthy, white hunters set off to kill people in a "human safari hunt", they'd use guns, not machetes. Looks to me like the gov't of the CAR thought it would be an easy way to get big money. Just watch, they'll drop the charges as soon as the Europeans pay their "bail". I can see where an African safari might be exciting. But there are plenty of other African countries with gov'ts somewhat more stable, who actually appreciate the money tourists spend, who want the tourists to come.
There are certain countries that Americans and others should not travel to, and if you're ignorant enough to go there you'll simply have to suffer the consequences. The American government is not your nanny so don't expect that it will be able to help you.
and we have special forces troops down there helping these people why?