Bunia leaders ask Hema and Lendu communities to return

Officials of the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups in northeastern DRC have appealed to people who fled fighting in the Bunia area to return to their homes and resume their daily activities, as calm had now returned, rebel-controlled Radio Candip reported on Saturday. Officials warned that if people displaced from the Malili region did not return within one month, their land would be given away. In February, the rival Hema and Lendu communities signed a pact aimed at resolving land disputes in the region that had left thousands of people dead during the preceding 18 months. Under the agreement, both ethnic groups were to send representatives into the rural areas to sensitise residents on peaceful co-existence and mutual tolerance, and a follow-up commission was to monitor and move the process forward.