DRC: a customary fee would be at the origin of the violence in Mai-Ndombe

Lake Mai-Ndombe in the DRC (illustration).

Wikimedia/J.

Claeys Bouaert

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

First aid arrives in Kwamouth, in the province of Mai-Ndombe, about 100 kilometers from Kinshasa, more than four weeks after clashes between members of the Teke and Yaka communities.

According to the authorities, a customary fee imposed on so-called non-native populations is at the root of the conflict.

This violence officially left 18 dead, 175 houses burned, and thousands displaced, according to the first figures published by the government.

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With our correspondent in Kinshasa, 

According to several sources, the toll may be much higher.

The cross-checked information makes it possible to arrive at more than 30 deaths so far.

Some sources report cases of drowning of children thrown into the river.

And others in the government add that at least six members of the police and security forces were also killed.

This conflict opposes members of the Teke community to members of the so-called non-Kwamouth territory ethnic groups, including the Yaka, the Suku, the Mbala and the Songe.

The latter have been opposed for several months to the increase in a royalty under customary law on agricultural products imposed by Teke customary chiefs on non-natives.

The forced collection of a customary fee followed by arrests and other treatment deemed inhuman by the victims would be the cause of the deadly clashes.

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For their part, the Teke accuse the Yaka of trying to illegally install their own customary chiefs on lands that do not belong to them.

The management of these conflicts by law enforcement and security forces is also pointed out by civil society actors and other sources.

Some police officers are accused of extrajudicial executions and participation in the looting of certain villages.

A team of investigators from the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office was dispatched to the scene.

And the fear of seeing the violence spread to other provinces is mentioned more.

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