Fighting kills 50 in DR Congo

KINSHASA: At least 50 people have been killed in violence in Ituri, a volatile province of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), governor Jean Bamanisa Saidi said on Thursday.

"As of the day before yesterday, we had a figure of some 50 dead, but it’s true, we are aware that there are other cases," he told AFP. Other sources said the toll could be 60 or more than 70.

The fighting began last Friday and escalated on Monday, affecting the territory of Djugu north of the provincial capital of Bunia, and causing many people to flee their homes, the sources said.

The cause of the flareup was not immediately clear, but it occurred in a region where tens of thousands died in clashes between the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups between 1999 and 2003.