Twenty people were killed after three days of clashes between Twa Pygmies and Luba Bantus in Kabalo in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The member of parliament for the area, Kalunga Mawazo, who confirmed the death toll to AFP said the clashes occured between Sunday and Tuesday.

“4 deaths were recorded among the Lubas and 16 among the Pygmies who have been quarreling since Sunday over customary royalty paid by the Bantu,” the MP Kalunga added.

The clashes are suspected to have been caused by a disagreement over caterpillar harvest as anonymously confirmed by a Catholic priest of the Tanganyika diocese in northern Katanga.

“The Pygmies believe they now enjoy the same rights as the citizens. They refused to pay this illegal tax and killed two Lubas with an arrow for demanding they pay the tax,” the priest said.

“It was during a retaliatory attack that two more Lubas and 16 Pygmy bodies were found,” the Catholic priest added.

“Tension is high in Kabalo, we sent a team there and reinforcements to restore order,” the Governor of Tanganyika, Ngoy Kitangala, told AFP without confirming the death toll.

In early September, local authorities had reported the resumption of hostilities between the two ethnic groups.

Since 2013, the North Katanga region is the scene of many clashes between Bantus of Luba and Pygmies of Twa ethnicity.</s>At least 20 people have been killed in three days of clashes in southeast DR Congo between Pygmy and Bantu people over a disputed caterpillar collection tax, a local parliamentarian told AFP on Tuesday.

Local MP Kalunga Mawazo told AFP on Tuesday that the fighting in Kabalo between Sunday and Tuesday was triggered by a dispute over the caterpillar harvest, a common food staple for the hunter-gatherer people of the Tanganyika region in northern Katanga.

"The attacks since Sunday left four (Bantu) Lubas and 16 Pygmies dead in a row over the tax traditionally paid to the Bantus by the Pygmies," Kalunga said.

A local priest who asked not to be named said that "the Pygmies now believe they have the same rights as citizens as the others. They refused to pay this illegal tax and shot two Luba people dead with arrows when they demanded payment."

A further two Lubas, who are Bantu people, were killed in revenge attacks, and the bodies of 16 Pygmies found, he added.

Tanganyika governor Ngoy Kitangala said security forces were being dispatched to the area where tension was extremely high.

Northern Katanga, a region as big as Spain, has seen repeated clashes between Bantu Lubas and Pygmy Twa people since 2013.
Clashes between Pygmy and Bantu tribes in Tanganyika region of Democratic Republic of Congo leave 20 people dead.