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Both Rwanda and Uganda have vowed to try and stop the killings between the Lendu and Hema ethnic groups in Ituri district, northeastern DRC. "We are investigating to determine whether there is a serious breach of international humanitarian law," Rwandan Minister in the President's Office Patrick Mazimhaka told IRIN on Friday. "We hope local leaders will address the underlying causes of the conflict like the use of land."
Meanwhile, Uganda's independent 'Monitor' newspaper quoted President Yoweri Museveni as saying Uganda had "intervened" at the request of the local authorities. "We understand it [the conflict] more," Museveni was quoted as telling a news conference on Tuesday. "It is mainly to do with land because some people get concessions on land on which other people are
living. And given the chaos in Congo, the fact that there is no judicial system to arbitrate and say you are wrong or right, that is why they fight." "They had started introducing guns, but we have intervened and the situation is now quiet," Museveni added, according to the newspaper.
"Where the local authorities have asked us, we have intervened to stop the fighting among these people."
The Ugandan-backed RCD-Mouvement de Liberation (RCD-ML), led by Professor Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, controls the affected area. Aid agencies estimate that between 5,000-7,000 people have been killed in the bloody clashes.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions