Sunday, January 06, 2019

UN: DR Congo Violence Drives 16,000 to Brazzaville
Jan. 05, 2019, 12:00 pm
By BBC

Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, former Congolese Interior minister and presidential candidate, casts his vote at a polling station in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, December 30, 2018. REUTERS

Around 16,000 people have fled the Democratic Republic of Congo after clashes erupted last month in the south-west, AFP news agency reports the UN as saying.

The UN said people fled to the neighbouring Republic of Congo after violence broke out in Yumbi, in the DR Congo province of Mai-Ndombe.

Spokesman for the UN refugee agency Andrej Mahecic is quoted as saying that the violence did not have anything to do with the presidential election on Sunday.

"An old rivalry between Banunus and Batende communities led to fresh inter-communal clashes," AFP reports Mr Mahecic as saying.

He says dozens have been killed in the clashes.

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