At least six people dead following ethnic clashes in eastern DRC

By

Darell Maurice

At least six people were killed and several injured in clashes that pitted members of the Nande and Hutu communities on Friday night in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Sources from the local civil society report that at least three villages were affected by the clashes, including Lusuli, Kyuto and Bwambuli, in the Lubero territory. Incidents were also reported on Musungusungu hill, with members of the Hutu community in search of food injuring two women from the Nande community in a field to a nearby party.

The members of the Nande community blame Hutu for barricading the Kasiki – Mbwavinya road before killing four members of the Nande community, causing anger to the Nande who then organized an expedition to the village where they killed Kyuto, a member of the Hutu community, sources said.

According to the administration of the territory of Lubero, the army was deployed in the area to calm the tension, an appeal for calm also being launched to the Nande community, inviting its members to a peaceful coexistence. The security situation remains precarious in the Lubero territory between the communities since the massacre of 18 people in Miriki last month. The Nande community attributed the killings to the Rwandan Hutu elements

Last week, the governor of North Kivu, Julien Paluku said they had initiated talks with members of the communities in conflict. The authorities of the province say that they want to expand the talks to notables from across the province to promote living together between different communities in the region.

Darell Maurice

Darell Maurice is a Journalist based in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital city Kinshasa and works for Canal7kintv. He also blogs here.