Street children killed in clash with miners

At least a dozen street children have died since Friday in Mbuji-Mayi, the capital of Kasai Oriental Province, following violence between them and the city's diamond miners, Congolese authorities and humanitarian workers said.

"There may well have been more deaths," Xavier Molina, the head of the NGO Save the Children in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, told IRIN.

"What we saw were the bodies of ten children who had been burnt alive," Molina said.

Locals reported at least 12 other children were thrown into a river and ditches, but Molina said he could not verify the claims.

The division chief for the Ministry of Social Affairs in Mbuji-Mayi, Charles Phabishilaki, said the children started going on a rampage last week.

"Things degenerated when they attacked the miners," he said. "The children stole and even raped women. The miners reacted and the violence escalated."

Phabishilaki said that three of the miners were killed. An inhabitant of the town, Zephyrin Kamanga, said, "Almost three-quarters of the population were involved."

Tensions eased on Saturday after police brought in reinforcements. But the UN-supported Radio Okapi reported that the violence went into Sunday with people in one area of the city burning alive a soldier and a policeman, accusing them of being in complicity with the street children.

The Minister for Social Affairs in Kinshasa, Ingele Ifoto, said the deaths were "unacceptable" and called for street children to be treated humanely.