DRC: new arrests after intercommunity violence in Mai-Ndombe

The village of Kwamouth, in the west of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Maï-Ndombe.

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The authorities announce the imminent holding of a forum for peace in the province of Mai-Ndombe.

The precise date remains to be fixed, but there will be face-to-face, the Yaka and Teke communities who have been clashing on the spot for several weeks.

This violence has already caused numerous victims and hundreds of displaced persons.

The situation seems to have eased with the strengthening of the military presence in the region.

The government reported arrests in the ranks of the alleged ringleaders.

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With our correspondent in Kinshasa,

The situation in Kwamouth, in the province of Maï-Ndombe, is on the way to being brought under control, according to the Ministry of Defence.

He affirms that the defense and security forces are intensifying their patrols in this area, and that they have completely taken control of the two main axes: Mongata-Masambio-Bandundu city on the one hand, and Masambio-Kwamouth on the other. .

Many suspected ringleaders of the violence were arrested and are questioned on the spot in Maï-Ndombe, others were taken to the headquarters of the first defense zone, in Kinshasa.

Other suspects managed to escape.

Minister Gilbert Kabanda talks about sweeping operations planned in the

.

A forum for peace and foundations

The forum for peace, soon planned in Kinshasa by the Ministry of the Interior, will therefore take place after other meetings.

These were initiated last week by former Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito and civil society, to reflect on the ways and means of preventing the multiplication of community conflicts in the DRC.

Adolphe Muzito, now a national deputy, has thus proposed revising the land law to remedy these community conflicts.

Other voices are also calling for a trial around

that took place in the same province in 2018, to deter any other groups that would be tempted to provoke further violence.

On December 16 and 17, 2018, hundreds of people were killed (535 according to HRW), and more than a hundred others injured.

►Also read: In the DRC, customary chiefs are discussing to find a way out of the crisis in Maï-Ndombe

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