DRC: UN troops intervene in village clashes

UN peacekeepers fired into the air to stop clashes between two conflicting villages in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The villagers who were armed with machetes and batons finally dispersed when army troops and peacekeepers made their intervention.

According to the U.N. Mission military spokesman, Amouzoun Codjo Martin, the clashes between the Hutu and Nande were sparked by the death of a Hutu civilian, presumably killed by Mai Mai militiamen.

The ethnicity of the attackers was however not given but local activists identified them as the Nande, who dominate the Mai Mai groups.

Tensions in the region remain following the death of at least six people in recent clashes between the two communities.

The Hutu and Nande ethnic groups have been historical rivals but intercommunal friction has risen since Congo’s army launched a military offensive against the FDLR last year.

FDLR is a Rwandan Hutu militia operating in eastern Congo.