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#Congo’s #Ituri province is sliding towards deadlier conflict amid gruesome reports of massacres of civilians in the countryside. This morning the #codeco militia, mainly ethnic Lendus, have surrounded the prison in the provincial capital Bunia. thread —>
These are worrying developments. While Ituri gets more serious its violence connects to dynamics in other provinces, notably North Kivu, which has been the epicentre of many Congolese wars. Our July @CrisisGroup report explained how. See: https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/democratic-republic-congo/292-republique-democratique-du-congo-en-finir-avec-la-violence-cyclique-en-ituri
The violence is also connected to regional dynamics in the Great Lakes, with competition between Congo’s neighbours #Uganda and #Rwanda - both of whom have a history of backing proxy militias in Congo - heating up recently. We explained in this report: https://bit.ly/2QVLcn6
There needs to be some action on slowing this down. A local ceasefire and disarmament needs to be brokered by national authorities in Ituri. Mediation involving Congo and it’s neighbours will also be critical to cooking broader tensions in the Great Lakes.
For now I am left watching gruesome videos of Ituri militias chopping up dead bodies in broad daylight. I cannot post them here because they are sickening but they are reminiscent of the worst violence I saw in the Congo before the country’s civil war ended in 2003.
Typo: cooling not cooking
