Attempts to reconcile warring tribes

Attempts are underway to reconcile warring ethnic groups in the Bunia region of northeastern DRC, according to Radio Candip in Bunia. IRIN on Thursday quoted sources in touch with the region who reported hundreds of dead and thousands of displaced due to ongoing tribal fighting in the Djugu area. Radio Candip on Friday said a reconciliation meeting between the Walendu and Wahema (Wagegere) groups began on Thursday with some 450 people present, and was due to continue Friday. The governor of the newly-declared “autonomous province” of Kibali-Ituri addressed the session, according to the radio. The rapporteur for the Kisangani-based rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD), Jacques Depelchin, told IRIN on Friday that while his group was in control of the Bunia region, it had not declared an “autonomous province” to create a power base there. The deputy governor of Kisangani was sent to the area to “cool tensions”, he said.