About 200 people have died in brutal ethnic massacres in the past few days in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Vehicles went around town parading cut off heads that had been spiked on sticks rebel official Jacques Depelchin Rebel officials said that severed heads had been paraded around Bunia on the border with Uganda after violence erupted on Friday between the Lendu and Hema groups.
Officials say most of the dead have been taken off the streets and buried in mass graves.
Tensions Tensions between the Hema and the Lendu, who share fertile land close to the Ugandan border, have existed for many years, but appear to have been exacerbated by the wider war in the country. According to a number of reports, Lendu warriors armed with spears and arrows attacked the town's airstrip and radio station on Friday. Gangs of Hema youths armed with machetes responded by attacking Lendu civilians on the streets and in their homes. There have been a lot of revenge killings. The Hema are traditionally pastoralist, while the Lendu are mainly farmers.