Women demonstrate against RCD

Banyamulenge women held parallel demonstrations in Uvira and Bukavu on Wednesday against the governing Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) and its allies, blaming them for “failing to protect the local community from bizarre killings that have been going since June”. An NGO worker in the area told IRIN that the women also condemned the local authorities and people from certain tribes whom they said were “working hand in hand with the Mayi- Mayi to flush out the Banyamulenge”. He said the demonstration was peaceful and would continue on Thursday until the demands to put a stop to the killings had been heard. The source said there had been an upsurge in attacks and ambushes lately, particularly along the Uvira-Bukavu and Uvira-Baraka roads. In the Ruzizi plain area of Uvira, about 49 people have reportedly been killed over the past few months “in mysterious circumstances”. Local sources said Mayi-Mayi, Interahamwe and Burundian FDD rebels were grouping together and meeting “little resistance” from the RCD and its Rwandan allies who were supposed to be maintaining law and order. They added that there were large movements of FDD and Mayi-Mayi fighters from Tanzania, across Lake Tanganyika, to Fizi in DRC.