Bunia (DR Congo) (AFP) - Thirty-three people were killed in a new outbreak of ethnic violence overnight in the Democratic Republic of Congo's troubled Ituri province, the interior minister said Friday.

The latests killings were part of a cycle of unrest between the Hema and Lendu communities in the northeastern province, the minister Henri Mova told AFP in an email.

The killings happened in the village of Maze, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Bunia, Ituri's provincial capital.

"The provincial governor is on his way to the site of the killings," Mova said.

Witnesses told AFP the attackers were members of the Lendu community, as civil society groups warned the death toll could in fact be much higher.

"The attackers went into the village and committed a real massacre," local activist Banza Charite said.

Alfred Ndrabu Buju of international Catholic charity Caritas said a child was among the dead.

"A child was admitted this morning in Drodro general hospital, with an arrow in his head," Buju said.

The violence in Ituri has left over 100 people dead since mid-December, and forced 200,000 people to flee their homes.

More than 28,000 of the displaced have fled across the border to Uganda in recent weeks, according to UN figures, most of them women and children, bringing with them tales of horrific violence.

The Hema cattle herders and Lendu farmers of Congo's Ituri region are antagonistic neighbours and outbreaks of low-level violence between them are common.

But in the late 1990s and early 2000s their fight became a broader, more brutal battle stoked by Rwanda and Uganda, which were eager to seize gold, diamond, timber and influence as part of a wider continental war that played out inside Congo's borders.

This year's resurgent violence in Ituri is part of a patchwork of unrest in a country suffering from growing insecurity.

New conflicts are erupting as President Joseph Kabila struggles to maintain his grip on power two years after the legal end of his second presidential term. </s> Bunia (DR Congo): At least 49 people were killed in a fresh outbreak of ethnic violence overnight in the Democratic Republic of Congo's troubled Ituri province, a senior charity official said on Friday.

The latest killings were part of a cycle of unrest between the Hema and Lendu communities in the northeastern province, the government told AFP.

"We have counted 49 bodies and are still searching for other bodies," said Alfred Ndrabu Buju from international Catholic charity Caritas.

"A child was admitted this morning in Drodro general hospital, with an arrow in his head," Buju added.

The Interior Minister Henri Mova earlier put the death toll at 33.

"The provincial governor is on his way to the site of the killings," Mova said.

The violence happened in the village of Maze, some 80 kilometres north of Bunia, Ituri's provincial capital.

Witnesses told AFP the attackers were members of the Lendu community.

"The attackers went into the village and committed a real massacre," local activist Banza Charite said.

The violence in Ituri has left over 100 people dead since mid-December, and forced 200,000 people to flee their homes.

More than 28,000 of the displaced have fled across the border to Uganda in recent weeks, according to UN figures, most of them women and children, bringing with them tales of horrific violence.

The Hema cattle herders and Lendu farmers of Congo's Ituri region are antagonistic neighbours and outbreaks of low-level violence between them are common.

But in the late 1990s and early 2000s their fight became a broader, more brutal battle stoked by Rwanda and Uganda, which were eager to seize gold, diamond, timber and influence as part of a wider continental war that played out inside Congo's borders.

This year's resurgent violence in Ituri is part of a patchwork of unrest in a country suffering from growing insecurity.

New conflicts are erupting as President Joseph Kabila struggles to maintain his grip on power two years after the legal end of his second presidential term.

Armed groups also active in North Kivu and South Kivu, two huge provinces which border Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.

Conflict has also erupted in the central region of Kasai, after a tribal chieftain known as the Kamwina Nsapu, who rebelled against President Joseph Kabila's regime, was killed in September 2016.

As the violence spirals, UN aid officials have said donor countries will meet in April for a conference aimed at raising nearly USD 1.7 billion for humanitarian work in the country.

The estimate of funding needs has doubled since last year, reflecting the mounting number of problems.

"We are facing emergencies and crises that are directly affecting the population," Julien Harneis, UN deputy humanitarian aid coordinator, said on Thursday.

In January, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) identified humanitarian needs at USD 1.68 billion (1.37 billion euros).

The crisis in DR Congo, it warned, had reached a "breaking point".

The country has around 10 million people in need of humanitarian aid, of whom 4.5 million are people who have had to flee their homes because of conflict.

Three UN agencies -- the World Food Programme (WFP), children's agency UNICEF, and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) -- estimated in January that 3.2 million people in Kasai were facing severe food shortages.

Get the best of News18 delivered to your inbox - subscribe to News18 Daybreak. Follow News18.com on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and on YouTube, and stay in the know with what's happening in the world around you – in real time. </s> GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Ethnic clashes between Hema herders and Lendu farmers in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri province have killed more than 40 people, local officials said on Friday, in the second such incident in a month.

Tensions between the two groups have largely laid dormant since a 1998-2003 war, when thousands died in fighting between the two groups, but have flared again in recent months due to disputes over land.

At least 30 people were killed in two days of clashes last month between armed Hema and Lendu.

Militia activity has increased across eastern Congo’s borderlands with Uganda and Rwanda in the past year, stoked in part by President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate in December 2016.

Alfred Ndrabu, a member of the Catholic church’s Justice and Peace Commission in Ituri, said a colleague in the village of Maze had counted 49 bodies from Thursday’s clashes, which continued into Friday morning.

“The Lendu and their allies attacked the village of Maze,” Ndrabu told Reuters.“They were pushed back by security forces ... They returned with reinforcements ... which was when they perpetrated the carnage.”

Jean-Bosco Lalo, an activist based in the provincial capital of Bunia, said his organization, had so far recorded 43 deaths. He did not say who had initiated the violence.

“It was a case of reprisals by the two communities,” said local army spokesman Jules Ngongo, who did not yet have a death toll.“According to our information, there were cases of people being decapitated.”

Millions of people died during conflicts in Ituri and elsewhere in eastern Congo around the turn of the century, mostly from hunger and disease.

Three warlords from Ituri have been tried by the International Criminal Court - and two of them convicted - for their roles in those conflicts. Another is currently on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. </s> A fresh flare-up of ethnic violence has claimed the lives of at least 49 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Ituri province.

The murders took place overnight in the village of Maze, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Bunia, the capital of the northeastern province of Ituri, which has been wracked by conflict between the Hema and Lendu communities, the government said on Friday.

Alfred Ndrabu Buju from international Catholic charity Caritas said, "We have counted 49 bodies and are still searching for other bodies."

"A child was admitted this morning in Drodro general hospital, with an arrow in his head," Buju added.

Interior Minister Henri Mova earlier said 33 were killed in the unrest.

"The provincial governor is on his way to the site of the killings," Mova said.

Witnesses said the assailants were members of the Lendu community.

"The attackers went into the village and committed a real massacre," said local activist Banza Charite.

More than 100 people have been killed since the violence erupted in Ituri in mid-December. The unrest has also forced 200,000 people to flee their homes.

More than 28,000 of the displaced have crossed the border into Uganda in recent weeks, according to UN figures, most of them women and children, reporting horrific stories of violence.

Tensions between the Hema cattle herders and Lendu farmers have largely laid dormant since a 1998-2003 war, which claimed the lives of thousands, but have flared again in recent months because of disputes over land.

The United Nations said earlier this year it would seek more than $1.5 billion to respond to the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, warning the violence-torn country was at a "breaking point." </s> GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Ethnic clashes between Hema herders and Lendu farmers in the northeastern province of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo have killed more than 40 people, local officials said Friday.

Tensions between the groups have been largely dormant since their battles from 1998 to 2003 left thousands of people dead, but violence has flared again in recent months because of disputes over land.

At least 30 people were killed in two days of clashes last month between armed Hema and Lendu.

Militia activity has increased across eastern Congo’s borderlands near Uganda and Rwanda in the past year, stoked in part by President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to step down in December 2016 as required by the Constitution.

Alfred Ndrabu, a member of the Roman Catholic Church’s Justice and Peace Commission in Ituri, said a colleague in the village of Maze had counted 49 bodies from Thursday’s clashes, which continued into Friday morning.

“The Lendu and their allies attacked the village of Maze,” Mr. Ndrabu said. “They were pushed back by security forces.”

“They returned with reinforcements,” he said, “which was when they perpetrated the carnage.”

Jean-Bosco Lalo, an activist based in the provincial capital, Bunia, said his organization had so far recorded 43 deaths. He did not say who had initiated the violence. </s> GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, April 26 (Reuters) - U nited Nations investigators have discovered five probable mass grave sites in eastern Congo's Ituri province where an outbreak of ethnic violence has killed at least 263 people, a U.N. peacekeeping mission said.

The report from the mission provides the most comprehensive portrait to date of the human cost of months of violence between Lendu pastoralists and Hema herders since December that has caused one of Africa's most serious refugee crises.

Violence across eastern Congo's borderlands with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi has spiked since President Joseph Kabila refused to step aside at the end of his mandate in 2016, eroding state authority and emboldening armed groups.

The mostly Lendu-led attacks have forced more than 60,000 people to flee across Lake Albert into Uganda, and the U.N. refugee agency expects 200,000 refugees to reach Uganda this year. Tens of thousands of others have fled to other towns inside Congo.

The investigators did not provide details about the suspected mass graves, but said that about 120 towns and villages were pillaged and destroyed between December and mid-March.

According to Hema refugees Reuters interviewed last month in Uganda, Lendu groups typically attack Hema villages shortly after dusk with guns, machetes, axes and bows and arrows.

The precise motives for the attacks are difficult to pin down but tensions between the two communities have long been stoked by disagreements over cattle grazing rights, crops, gold mining and political representation.

Open warfare between the two communities from 1999-2007 is estimated to have killed some 50,000 people in one of the bloodiest chapters of a civil war in eastern Congo that left millions dead from conflict, hunger and disease.

Aid agencies say the crisis is a "mega-disaster" and are trying to raise over $2 billion to respond but Congo's government has accused them of exaggerating the situation and boycotted a recent donor conference. </s> GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - United Nations investigators have discovered five probable mass grave sites in eastern Congo’s Ituri province where an outbreak of ethnic violence has killed at least 263 people, a U.N. peacekeeping mission said.

The report from the mission provides the most comprehensive portrait to date of the human cost of months of violence between Lendu pastoralists and Hema herders since December that has caused one of Africa’s most serious refugee crises.

Violence across eastern Congo’s borderlands with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi has spiked since President Joseph Kabila refused to step aside at the end of his mandate in 2016, eroding state authority and emboldening armed groups.

The mostly Lendu-led attacks have forced more than 60,000 people to flee across Lake Albert into Uganda, and the U.N. refugee agency expects 200,000 refugees to reach Uganda this year. Tens of thousands of others have fled to other towns inside Congo.

The investigators did not provide details about the suspected mass graves, but said that about 120 towns and villages were pillaged and destroyed between December and mid-March.

According to Hema refugees Reuters interviewed last month in Uganda, Lendu groups typically attack Hema villages shortly after dusk with guns, machetes, axes and bows and arrows. [nL1N1R20YN]

The precise motives for the attacks are difficult to pin down but tensions between the two communities have long been stoked by disagreements over cattle grazing rights, crops, gold mining and political representation.

Open warfare between the two communities from 1999-2007 is estimated to have killed some 50,000 people in one of the bloodiest chapters of a civil war in eastern Congo that left millions dead from conflict, hunger and disease.

Aid agencies say the crisis is a “mega-disaster” and are trying to raise over $2 billion to respond but Congo’s government has accused them of exaggerating the situation and boycotted a recent donor conference. [nL8N1RQ2TH] </s> GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo - United Nations investigators have discovered five probable mass grave sites in eastern Congo’s Ituri province where an outbreak of ethnic violence has killed at least 263 people, a UN peacekeeping mission said.

The report from the mission provides the most comprehensive portrait to date of the human cost of months of violence between Lendu pastoralists and Hema herders since December that has caused one of Africa’s most serious refugee crises.

Violence across eastern Congo’s borderlands with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi has spiked since President Joseph Kabila refused to step aside at the end of his mandate in 2016, eroding state authority and emboldening armed groups.

The mostly Lendu-led attacks have forced more than 60,000 people to flee across Lake Albert into Uganda, and the UN refugee agency expects 200,000 refugees to reach Uganda this year. Tens of thousands of others have fled to other towns inside Congo.

The investigators did not provide details about the suspected mass graves, but said that about 120 towns and villages were pillaged and destroyed between December and mid-March.

According to Hema refugees Reuters interviewed last month in Uganda, Lendu groups typically attack Hema villages shortly after dusk with guns, machetes, axes and bows and arrows.

The precise motives for the attacks are difficult to pin down but tensions between the two communities have long been stoked by disagreements over cattle grazing rights, crops, gold mining and political representation.

Open warfare between the two communities from 1999-2007 is estimated to have killed some 50,000 people in one of the bloodiest chapters of a civil war in eastern Congo that left millions dead from conflict, hunger and disease.

Aid agencies say the crisis is a “mega-disaster” and are trying to raise over $2 billion to respond but Congo’s government has accused them of exaggerating the situation and boycotted a recent donor conference. </s> A UN report said on Thursday what appears to be five mass graves have been discovered in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where recent intercommunal violence has killed more than 260 people.

The UN's joint office for human rights has identified five "probable mass graves" in Blukwa Centre and Maze/Waliba in Ituri province during a fact-finding mission last month.

The troubled province is caught in a cycle of violence between the Hema and Lendu communities, cattle herders and farmers who have long fought over land – a conflict that intensified from December but has since calmed down.

Humanitarian groups say the violence has forced around 300,000 people from their homes.

"At least 263 people, including at least 91 women, have been killed; 29 others injured and 120 localities and villages have been looted and destroyed" in Djugu territory since December 2017, the UN report said.

"The majority of the victims are ethnic Hema," it added.

Authorities in DRC said they had not been informed about the discovery.

"There is no mass grave to our knowledge," said Etienne Unega, interior minister for Ituri province.

"The UN's joint Office should make the report available to us that contains these allegations."

The UN mission in DRC, Monusco, on Wednesday said schools, markets, places of worship and health centres were reopening in Djugu territory, noting a "calming of the situation".

Hema herders and Lendu farmers have been locked in violence in Ituri for decades, with tens of thousands killed between 1999 and 2003.

The violence was so great in 2003 it triggered Operation Artemis, a three-month operation by the European Union, its first military mission outside Europe.

It succeeded in the goal of avoiding a humanitarian catastrophe but fighting never came to a total halt.

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An attack on a village, part of the unrest between ethnic Lendu and Hema communities, leaves 49 people dead in the Ituri Province of DR Congo.