At Least 30 Killed In New Clashes In Kwamouth, DR Congo
Women, children and a village chief are among the dead after a fresh clash between Teke and Yaka communities in Mai Ndombe province DR Congo
At least 31 people were killed in clashes between the Teke and Yaka ethnic groups on Tuesday Sept 13 in Kwamouth territory of Mai-Ndombe province.
According to local eyewitness accounts, the decapitated body of the chief of Fadiaka village was discovered among the dead. Women and children were also killed and scores of houses were burnt down, local officials said.
“There were clashes between the two tribes of Yaka and Teke and the death toll for now is 31, among whom is the chief of Fadiaka”, revealed Martin Suta, vice president of the Kwamouth civil society.
The death toll could rise and the national Member of Parliament for Kwamouth constituency, Guy Musomo said the figure could be at least 35.
“There were so many deaths in Fadiaka among whom was the chief who was decapitated. At least 35 people were killed. The people came from nearby forests and they committed massacres including children and women”, Guy Musomo declared.
Suspicions have been raised over the identity of the killers, some of whom were arrested and others also killed in the clash.
“What is true right now is that within the group of assailants who were identified in Masiambio, there are corpses of soldiers. We are interrogating those who were arrested and we have found out that some soldiers infiltrated into Yaka civilians”, Martin Suta of the civil society said.
It should be recalled that since the beginning of the inter-communal violence between the Teke and Yaka tribes in July this year, about seventy people have been killed.
This conflict is the second recorded in Mai-Ndombe after the massacres during the conflict between the Ntende and Nunu in 2018 in Yumbi territory that resulted in the deaths of over five hundred persons, according to United Nations estimates.
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