from JEAN KASSONGO in Kinshasa, DRC
DRC Bureau
KINSHASA, (CAJ News) – WORSENING scarcity of land, food, shelter and healthcare have resulted in fierce inter-communal clashes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that left dozens of people killed while hordes injured.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the brutal fights occurred on Tuesday in Kisangani, Tshopo, although the global mother body did not release immediate death figures.
The UN humanitarian agency said aid workers were helping those that were injured while assisting those displaced and in desperate need of shelter and food.
OCHA stated that the death toll emanating from such clashes continue to soar since February 2023 when an estimated 740 villagers were killed while 75,000 others were displaced from their homes due to clashes over dwindling resources.
OCHA called on the communities to immediately cease the fighting in order to join hands in ending the violence that claimed many lives to date.
The clashes came barely two days after a group of mercenaries were killed while others were arrested in a foiled coup d’etat in the capital Kinshasa.
– CAJ News