The United Nations (UN) has stated that the latest massacre in the Irumu territory of Ituri, DR Congo was inspired by ethnic conflicts contrary.
UN’s claim sharply contradicts initial reports.
Initially, it was reported by eyewitnesses that combatants of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) were responsible for the death of no less than 12 persons killed and dismembered in Pai-Pai within Banyali Tchabi chiefdom on September 8, 2020.
The Ugandan-based terrorist movement has reportedly terrorized communities in some parts of Beni within zones between North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
However, UN has now revealed the deaths are as a result of violence from ethnic animosity by the local population against the “Banyabwisha” ethnic group who have settled in the Boga, Tchabi and Mitego chiefdoms.
“The clashes which have lasted for years makes it difficult to pin the deaths on actual parties”, a UN source reports.
Earlier on in the year, Jean Bamanisa Saidi, Ituri’s governor signed an order establishing a commission charged with identifying the various immigrant populations and rebel groups installed in the Irumu territory.
By Melvin Tarlue