Sixteen people were killed and twenty-five others are missing in the attack on a locality in the west of the Democratic Republic of Congo where a conflict has pitted two communities for five months, sources learned on Saturday. local.
In the locality of Misia in Kwilu province, "
16 people were killed and 25 others missing
" in an attack carried out on Wednesday by "
assailants not yet identified
", provincial minister Jean-Claude Bwanganga told AFP. inside.
The Kwilu provincial government sent soldiers and police to "
track down these enemies
" who also "
burned down several houses
", he said.
“
Among the 16 people killed, there is a leader of a group (customary authority)
,” said Placide Mukwa, a local civil society leader.
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According to him, the attackers are often in the forest, and raid villages where there are no regular forces.
Located in the territory of Bagata, Misia is a neighboring locality of Kwamouth (province of Mai-Ndombe), where a land dispute has opposed since June the Tekes and Yakas, two communities in the west of the DRC.
This conflict has left more than 180 dead, according to the Kinshasa government, and several tens of thousands displaced, according to the UN.
Some of them crossed the river and joined neighboring Congo-Brazzaville.
In this country, the Catholic humanitarian organization Caritas expressed alarm on Friday at the "
precarious
" conditions in which more than 2,600 displaced people who have taken refuge in the center of the country live.