2 IDPs Die In DR Congo Bibokoboko Village Attack
Local authorities report that the two IDPs went to their farms when the assailants waylaid and killed them.
Two internally displaced persons were killed on Wednesday, June 1, by suspected Bilozebishambuke militia in Bibokoboko.
Bibokoboko is in the Mutambala sector of the Fizi middle plateau in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to Muhimuza Jacques, head of the communication and mobilisation unit of the Bibokoboko displaced person site; the two persons were heading to their farms in the villages of Kambembwe and Rutabura to harvest foodstuff.
The displaced persons had abandoned their farms due to continued insecurity.
“These papas went to their village to harvest foodstuff from their farms. On arriving at Kisozi, they fell in the hands of armed men who first took them into the bush and then killed them with machetes,” Jacques said.
Their bodies were found at about 7 p.m. CAT.
Three IDPs were on their way to the farm when the incident happened, but one escaped.
“It has been confirmed that they were killed by Bilozebishambuke who came in from Katoke in the Tanganyika sector,” Jacques said.
Ngirumukiza David, chief of the Bibokoboko locality, condemned the murder of civilians in areas under his jurisdiction.
He called on the DR Congo national army, FARDC, to reinforce the security detail in the locality and different communities and sensitise the youths to put an end to provocations that can endanger the search for peace by the authorities in that part of the country.
“Two persons were killed by Bilozebishambuke here in Bibokoboko. They were Mr Byamungu, an inhabitant of Rutabura and Mr Hatunga from Kabembwe village,” David said.
The security situation in this locality has been precarious since Nov. 2012, following attacks by Mai-Mai militia against several Banyamulenge villages.
The killing of these two civilians comes after four months of relative calm.
There is the fear that the incident could spark a new round of violence in the zone.
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