Democratic Republic of the Congo: Over 50 members of Kamwina Nsapu militia killed in clashes by army
Democratic Republic of Congo’s army has killed over 50 members of the Kamwina Nsapu militia in the centre of the country who were seeking to avenge the death of their leader, an opposition politician and an activist from the area say.
Hundreds have died and tens of thousands have been uprooted in central Congo in recent months in battles between security forces and the militia, whose leader Kamwina Nsapu died last August.
Analysts say militia violence in Congo, a tinderbox of conflicts linked to land, ethnicity and mineral resources, has been exacerbated by President Joseph Kabila’s failure to step down when his constitutional mandate expired in December.
Clashes erupted early on Friday morning in the town of Tshimbulu in Kasai-Central province, said Hyppolite Biduaya Bulanda, an opposition politician in the provincial capital of Kananga. He told Reuters that army soldiers had shot dead 58 militia.