According to a Congolese government toll reviewed by AFP on Sunday, 18 people were murdered in battles between two groups in western Democratic Republic of the Congo in early August that were brought on by a disagreement over taxes and land.
Early in August, white-armed clashes took place, mainly in the nearby settlement of Kwamuth, between Yaka who later settled there and members of the Tiki, who consider themselves indigenous and are the owners of communities along the Congo River at a distance of around 200 kilometres.
According to Rita Paula, the county governor of Mai Ndombe, who met with the interior minister and other officials in the region, the army is now present everywhere to protect the populace.
According to Father Felician Budoka of the Enongo diocese in Mai Ndombe (west), who is also the head of the Commission for Justice and Peace, the violence broke out because Yaka members refused to pay a fee to the traditional tiki chiefs.
Because the constitution permits Congolese to reside wherever on the continent, we (the community Yaka) no longer want to pay this tax, Gregoire Losotto, a development worker who abandoned his cassava fields and fish lakes in Kwamouth, the scene of the violence, told AFP. the National.
He explained that the yaka replaced a former tiki commander with their leader in August, which made things worse.
According to several witnesses consulted by Agence France-Presse, this leader and his wife were murdered by assailants.
Violence in the western Democratic Republic of the Congo claimed 18 lives.
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