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The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) has arrested the leaders of two armed groups in the northeastern district of Ituri, according to the MONUC spokesman in Bunia, Rachel Eklou.
The men, who were arrested on Thursday, are Floribert Kisembo and Pitchou Iribi. Kisembo leads a faction of the Union des patriotes congolais (UPC, Union of Congolese Patriots), an armed group mainly composed of members of the Hema ethnic group. MONUC said Kisembo was still recruiting child soldiers.
Iribi is the acting president of the Front des nationalistes intégrationnistes (FNI, Nationalist Integrationist Front), made up mostly of the Lendu people. Eklou said on Friday that Iribi was arrested at the request of the state prosecutor and charged with criminal conspiracy.
On 14 May, the UPC and the FNI signed the Kinshasa Act of Commitment (Acte d'Engagement de Kinshasa), under UN auspices. The agreement aims at ending the fighting and at disarming all combatants in Ituri and reinserting them into civilian life.
Despite an end in 2002 to a five-year civil war, fighting continued in Ituri, Orientale Province, with different militia groups fighting for control of the mineral-rich district.
Up to 50,000 people in the district have died in the fighting since 1999, and hundreds of thousands of others have been displaced, according the UN figures.
UN troops have been deployed in Ituri under a stronger mandate - Chapter Seven of the UN Charter - that allows them to use force, where necessary, to protect civilians, UN staff and other humanitarian actors.
A transitional government of national unity was installed in the capital, Kinshasa, in June 2003. The government has been trying to stamp its authority across the country, but the east, including the provinces of South and North Kivu, has remained volatile.
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
