Ten people were burnt to death in ethnic attacks in DR Congo ’ s volatile east and seven fishermen were missing Saturday in Lake Edward , where tensions have spiked with the Ugandan navy.
A Congolese soldier was also killed and a civilian injured in separate clashes with Uganda’ s Allied Democratic Forces (ADF ) rebel group in the eastern region of Beni , army spokesman Captain Mak Hazukay said .
The latest violence in the restive provinces of North and South Kivu underscores the fragility of a region which has been wracked by ethnic and rebel violence since the mid - 1990 s.
It is the theatre of a slew of players ranging from local militias to rebel groups from neighbouring Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda fighting over the region ’ s rich mineral resources .
The ten charred bodies were found on Saturday in South Kivu after clashes involving three ethnic groups , the Banyamulenge , Bafuliro and Banyindu , the official in charge of the Tanganyika sector John Mwimiwa said .
The Banyamulenge, or Congolese Tutsis , are regarded as foreigners by the other two ethnic groups and often clash with them . Each has their own militia.
“ Several villages were attacked yesterday by the Ngumino militia and the Forebu (Popular Forces of Burundi ) rebel group active in the Uvira and Fizi districts , ” Mwimiwa said .
“ We deplore the deaths of 10 persons in fires . All those killed were displaced people and were burnt in their huts. ”
The UN ’ s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA ) said 76, 000 people had been displaced in the region this year due to violence between the three groups .
Lieutenant- Colonel Antoine Bagenyi, the army commander of the area , confirmed the clashes to AFP but did not give details .
Claude Misare , the head of a local NGO , said the dead included four children and two women .
The villages are located about 200 kilometres (125 miles ) west of Uvra , the second largest town in South Kivu province .
– ‘It ’ s a massacre’ –
In North Kivu , the Ugandan navy fired on Congolese fishermen overnight and seven people were missing , the navy and local fishermen said .
“ We were eight in all on four dugout canoes when the Ugandan patrol boats approached us on the night of Friday to Saturday , ” said Sikuli Mukosa, a 40- year - old fisherman .
“ They asked us for our identity papers and then fired at our boats . I played dead . My seven comrades died , ” Mukosa told AFP.
“ It’ s a massacre . The Ugandan navy passed by to kill all the fishermen on the lake , ” said Jean Tsongo, the head of the Congolese navy on the DRC side of Lake Edward , which it shares with Uganda.
“ Since Thursday , the Ugandans have deployed greater forces than mine on the lake, ” he said .
The Congolese navy is tasked with preventing militia fighters and local rebels and others from neighbouring countries from operating in the area .
But clashes with the Ugandan navy have intensified since the start of this month . Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have been squabbling over sharing the energy resources of the lake.
AFP
0 Comments