ITURI, DR Congo
Attacks in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo province of Ituri have left more than 150 civilians dead in the past two weeks, the United Nations said Tuesday.
The province and its southern
neighbour of North Kivu have been wracked by increasing violence between
several militia groups in the mineral-rich region along the border with Uganda.
One group, CODECO, or
Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, says it is protecting the Lendu
community from another ethnic group, the Hema, as well as the DR Congo army.
The Hema meanwhile, are
defended by the Zaire militia — while the province is also targeted by the
Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) linked to the Islamic State jihadist group.
The United Nations Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned of "persistent
attacks against civilians in three separate districts" — Djugu, Irumu and
Mambasa — that had killed around 150 civilians since the start of April.
As a result, Irumu in
particular "has become a refuge for thousands of people fleeing the
widespread insecurity", the OCHA said.
Attacks have also been
reported against health clinics and other essential services, the agency said.
The security situation in
Ituri was "extremely concerning" with the attacks leaving communities
"in dire need of assistance and protection", the spokesman for UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
Stephane Dujarric said the UN
was committed to supporting people impacted by violence but warned that the
"delivery of this assistance may be delayed in areas that were impacted by
recent attacks."
He said local authorities had
told the UN at least 55 civilians were killed when armed assailants attacked a
village in Djugu in a single attack on Friday.
The conflict rekindled between
the Hema and Lendu communities in 2017, resulting in thousands of deaths and
forcing more than 1.5 million people from their homes.
Much of eastern DR Congo is
plagued by dozens of armed groups, a legacy of regional wars that flared in the
1990s and 2000s.
For the past two years, Ituri
and North Kivu have been under a state of emergency declared by the national
government in Kinshasa, in which police and army forces have replaced the civil
administration.
The M23, a militia led by
ethnic Tutsis, has separately won a string of victories against the army and
enemy militias since re-emerging from dormancy in late 2021, capturing swathes
of North Kivu province while threatening the regional capital of Goma.
In November, the seven-nation
East African Community began deploying a military force of thousands of troops
to eastern Congo in a bid to stabilise the volatile region.
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