At least 200,000 people are said to have been displaced by ethnic clashes happening in northeastern Ituri province of D.R. Congo since mid-December 2017. Humanitarian sources maintain that the refugees have been fleeing their villages where houses are getting burnt alive and people being hacked to death.
Hema herders and Lendu farmers have been locked in violence in Ituri for decades, with tens of thousands killed from 1999 to 2003. Ituri is part of the volatile eastern region of DRC that includes the restive North and South Kivu provinces, where militias hold sway over huge areas.
The latest violence has been spurred by the uncertainty surround the Joseph Kabila’s presidency and the general election due in December 2018.
