Bunia (DR Congo): At least 49 people were killed in a fresh outbreak of ethnic violence overnight in the Democratic Republic of Congo's troubled Ituri province, a senior charity official said on Friday.

The latest killings were part of a cycle of unrest between the Hema and Lendu communities in the northeastern province, the government told AFP.

"We have counted 49 bodies and are still searching for other bodies," said Alfred Ndrabu Buju from international Catholic charity Caritas.

"A child was admitted this morning in Drodro general hospital, with an arrow in his head," Buju added.

The Interior Minister Henri Mova earlier put the death toll at 33.

"The provincial governor is on his way to the site of the killings," Mova said.

The violence happened in the village of Maze, some 80 kilometres north of Bunia, Ituri's provincial capital.

Witnesses told AFP the attackers were members of the Lendu community.

"The attackers went into the village and committed a real massacre," local activist Banza Charite said.

The violence in Ituri has left over 100 people dead since mid-December, and forced 200,000 people to flee their homes.

More than 28,000 of the displaced have fled across the border to Uganda in recent weeks, according to UN figures, most of them women and children, bringing with them tales of horrific violence.

The Hema cattle herders and Lendu farmers of Congo's Ituri region are antagonistic neighbours and outbreaks of low-level violence between them are common.

But in the late 1990s and early 2000s their fight became a broader, more brutal battle stoked by Rwanda and Uganda, which were eager to seize gold, diamond, timber and influence as part of a wider continental war that played out inside Congo's borders.

This year's resurgent violence in Ituri is part of a patchwork of unrest in a country suffering from growing insecurity.

New conflicts are erupting as President Joseph Kabila struggles to maintain his grip on power two years after the legal end of his second presidential term.

Armed groups also active in North Kivu and South Kivu, two huge provinces which border Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.

Conflict has also erupted in the central region of Kasai, after a tribal chieftain known as the Kamwina Nsapu, who rebelled against President Joseph Kabila's regime, was killed in September 2016.

As the violence spirals, UN aid officials have said donor countries will meet in April for a conference aimed at raising nearly USD 1.7 billion for humanitarian work in the country.

The estimate of funding needs has doubled since last year, reflecting the mounting number of problems.

"We are facing emergencies and crises that are directly affecting the population," Julien Harneis, UN deputy humanitarian aid coordinator, said on Thursday.

In January, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) identified humanitarian needs at USD 1.68 billion (1.37 billion euros).

The crisis in DR Congo, it warned, had reached a "breaking point".

The country has around 10 million people in need of humanitarian aid, of whom 4.5 million are people who have had to flee their homes because of conflict.

Three UN agencies -- the World Food Programme (WFP), children's agency UNICEF, and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) -- estimated in January that 3.2 million people in Kasai were facing severe food shortages.

Get the best of News18 delivered to your inbox - subscribe to News18 Daybreak. Follow News18.com on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and on YouTube, and stay in the know with what's happening in the world around you – in real time.</s>A fresh flare-up of ethnic violence has claimed the lives of at least 49 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Ituri province.

The murders took place overnight in the village of Maze, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Bunia, the capital of the northeastern province of Ituri, which has been wracked by conflict between the Hema and Lendu communities, the government said on Friday.

Alfred Ndrabu Buju from international Catholic charity Caritas said, "We have counted 49 bodies and are still searching for other bodies."

"A child was admitted this morning in Drodro general hospital, with an arrow in his head," Buju added.

Interior Minister Henri Mova earlier said 33 were killed in the unrest.

"The provincial governor is on his way to the site of the killings," Mova said.

Witnesses said the assailants were members of the Lendu community.

"The attackers went into the village and committed a real massacre," said local activist Banza Charite.

More than 100 people have been killed since the violence erupted in Ituri in mid-December. The unrest has also forced 200,000 people to flee their homes.

More than 28,000 of the displaced have crossed the border into Uganda in recent weeks, according to UN figures, most of them women and children, reporting horrific stories of violence.

Tensions between the Hema cattle herders and Lendu farmers have largely laid dormant since a 1998-2003 war, which claimed the lives of thousands, but have flared again in recent months because of disputes over land.

The United Nations said earlier this year it would seek more than $1.5 billion to respond to the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, warning the violence-torn country was at a "breaking point."</s>Bunia (DR Congo) (AFP) - Thirty-three people were killed in a new outbreak of ethnic violence overnight in the Democratic Republic of Congo's troubled Ituri province, the interior minister said Friday.

The latests killings were part of a cycle of unrest between the Hema and Lendu communities in the northeastern province, the minister Henri Mova told AFP in an email.

The killings happened in the village of Maze, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Bunia, Ituri's provincial capital.

"The provincial governor is on his way to the site of the killings," Mova said.

Witnesses told AFP the attackers were members of the Lendu community, as civil society groups warned the death toll could in fact be much higher.

"The attackers went into the village and committed a real massacre," local activist Banza Charite said.

Alfred Ndrabu Buju of international Catholic charity Caritas said a child was among the dead.

"A child was admitted this morning in Drodro general hospital, with an arrow in his head," Buju said.

The violence in Ituri has left over 100 people dead since mid-December, and forced 200,000 people to flee their homes.

More than 28,000 of the displaced have fled across the border to Uganda in recent weeks, according to UN figures, most of them women and children, bringing with them tales of horrific violence.

The Hema cattle herders and Lendu farmers of Congo's Ituri region are antagonistic neighbours and outbreaks of low-level violence between them are common.

But in the late 1990s and early 2000s their fight became a broader, more brutal battle stoked by Rwanda and Uganda, which were eager to seize gold, diamond, timber and influence as part of a wider continental war that played out inside Congo's borders.

This year's resurgent violence in Ituri is part of a patchwork of unrest in a country suffering from growing insecurity.

New conflicts are erupting as President Joseph Kabila struggles to maintain his grip on power two years after the legal end of his second presidential term.</s>GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Ethnic clashes between Hema herders and Lendu farmers in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri province have killed more than 40 people, local officials said on Friday, in the second such incident in a month.

Tensions between the two groups have largely laid dormant since a 1998-2003 war, when thousands died in fighting between the two groups, but have flared again in recent months due to disputes over land.

At least 30 people were killed in two days of clashes last month between armed Hema and Lendu.

Militia activity has increased across eastern Congo’s borderlands with Uganda and Rwanda in the past year, stoked in part by President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate in December 2016.

Alfred Ndrabu, a member of the Catholic church’s Justice and Peace Commission in Ituri, said a colleague in the village of Maze had counted 49 bodies from Thursday’s clashes, which continued into Friday morning.

“The Lendu and their allies attacked the village of Maze,” Ndrabu told Reuters.“They were pushed back by security forces ... They returned with reinforcements ... which was when they perpetrated the carnage.”

Jean-Bosco Lalo, an activist based in the provincial capital of Bunia, said his organization, had so far recorded 43 deaths. He did not say who had initiated the violence.

“It was a case of reprisals by the two communities,” said local army spokesman Jules Ngongo, who did not yet have a death toll.“According to our information, there were cases of people being decapitated.”

Millions of people died during conflicts in Ituri and elsewhere in eastern Congo around the turn of the century, mostly from hunger and disease.

Three warlords from Ituri have been tried by the International Criminal Court - and two of them convicted - for their roles in those conflicts. Another is currently on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.</s>GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Ethnic clashes between Hema herders and Lendu farmers in the northeastern province of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo have killed more than 40 people, local officials said Friday.

Tensions between the groups have been largely dormant since their battles from 1998 to 2003 left thousands of people dead, but violence has flared again in recent months because of disputes over land.

At least 30 people were killed in two days of clashes last month between armed Hema and Lendu.

Militia activity has increased across eastern Congo’s borderlands near Uganda and Rwanda in the past year, stoked in part by President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to step down in December 2016 as required by the Constitution.

Alfred Ndrabu, a member of the Roman Catholic Church’s Justice and Peace Commission in Ituri, said a colleague in the village of Maze had counted 49 bodies from Thursday’s clashes, which continued into Friday morning.

“The Lendu and their allies attacked the village of Maze,” Mr. Ndrabu said. “They were pushed back by security forces.”

“They returned with reinforcements,” he said, “which was when they perpetrated the carnage.”

Jean-Bosco Lalo, an activist based in the provincial capital, Bunia, said his organization had so far recorded 43 deaths. He did not say who had initiated the violence.</s>GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Ethnic clashes between Hema herders and Lendu farmers in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri province have killed about 30 people, the provincial vice-governor said on Friday, in the second such incident in a month.

Tensions between the two groups have largely laid dormant since a 1998-2003 war, when thousands died in fighting between the two groups, but have flared again in recent months due to disputes over land. 

 At least 30 people were killed in two days of clashes last month between armed Hema and Lendu. 

 Militia activity has increased across eastern Congo's borderlands with Uganda and Rwanda in the past year, stoked in part by President Joseph Kabila's refusal to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate in December 2016.

 "We have received different numbers, but it is about 30," Ituri vice-governor Pacifique Keta told Reuters of Thursday's clashes, which continued into Friday morning. 

 Local army spokesman Jules Ngongo could not yet provide a death toll but said Congolese forces had intervened to separate the two sides.

 "It was a case of reprisals by the two communities," he said. "According to our information, there were cases of people being decapitated." 

 Millions of people died in eastern Congo's wars around the turn of the century, mostly from hunger and disease. Dozens of armed militia continue to operate there, preying on local populations and exploiting reserves of minerals and other resources.

 

 (Reporting By Fiston Mahamba; Additional reporting by Amedee Mwarabu; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)</s>BUNIA, Congo — Authorities say nearly three dozen people have been killed in the latest round of intercommunal fighting in northeastern Congo.

Interior Minister Henri Mova Sakanyi said 34 bodies had been found Friday after the killings in several villages in Congo’s Ituri province.

But one legislator who spoke with U.N.-backed Radio Okapi put the toll at 50 dead, and urged the military to stop the killings.

In early February, fighting erupted and left at least 26 dead in the area.

The violence has been between members of the Lendu and Hema groups, whose battles between 1999 and 2004 left untold thousands dead and led to the arrival of a U.N. peacekeeping force in the area.</s>
An attack on a village, part of the unrest between ethnic Lendu and Hema communities, leaves 49 people dead in the Ituri Province of DR Congo.