Commission says fewer than 45 died in Ankoro clash

About 45 people died earlier in November during clashes between the pro-government Mayi-Mayi militia, regular soldiers and residents of Ankoro, a village in the southeastern Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Human Rights Minister Ntumba Luaba told reporters. This assessment contrasts with the 104 dead and 1,200 homes burnt a local human rights body, the Commission de vulgarisation des droits de l'homme et de developpement, had reported. "The number of homes burnt was about 100 and not thousands," Ntumba told reporters on Thursday. He was speaking in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi, four days after leading a government commission of inquiry into the clashes. The government also said 14,000 had been displaced, compared to the 75,000 the rights body had reported. The rights body had also said on 10 November that the fighting erupted when government forces began burning and pillaging homes and shops in the area. Ankoro is the birthplace of the late President Laurent-Desire Kabila, assassinated on 16 January 2001 by a bodyguard.