5 decapitated bodies found in restive DR Congo region

GOMA, DR Congo: Five decapitated bodies have been found in a village of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, a region which has been plagued by inter-ethnic violence, local authorities said Friday.

The bodies were found Thursday in Kibirizi, a village about 200 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital of Goma, in the Rutshuru region near the border with Uganda.

The area has seen frequent clashes between Hutus, often linked to the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and the Nande and Hunde groups, the village chief, Arnold Kakule, told AFP.

The victims, three Nande and two Hunde, were killed by machete, presumably by FDLR fighters, the government representative for North Kivu in the village of Deo Kamathe said.

Two other people have been missing since Thursday, the representative said.

Dozens of people have been killed in clashes between the three ethnic groups since the beginning of this year.

The Nande and Hunde consider Hutus in the DR Congo as foreigners, and accuse them of supporting the FDLR in an effort to take control of their territories.

The FDLR was created by Rwandan Hutus who sought refuge in the eastern DR Congo after the mass killings of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, and some of their leaders are thought to be subject of international warrants over their role in the genocide. — AFP