Kinshasa –
Deadly violence between government forces and tribal militias in the Democratic
Republic of Congo’s Congo’s central Kasai region has forced more than a million
people from their homes over the past eight months, the UN said on Friday.
The fighting erupted after government troops last August killed
tribal chief Jean Pierre Mpandi, also known as Kamwina Nsapu, who had launched
an uprising against President Joseph Kabila.
Yvon Edoumou of the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it had registered 1.09 million internally
displaced people in the region as of April 1.
Violence in other areas of the country, including the North and
South Kivu provinces, has forced an additional two million to flee their homes,
he told AFP.
These people are mainly fleeing clashes between the FARDC (DRC’s
armed forces) and armed groups, or between armed groups, he said, adding that
about 40 local and international aid groups were helping to cope with the
crisis.
The UN has accused the Nsapu rebellion of using child soldiers and
committing several atrocities, while also denouncing the disproportionate use
of force by the military.
The UN has reported finding 40 mass graves in the Kasai region,
and the bodies of two UN researchers investigating the violence were found in a
grave 16 days after they were abducted last month.
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