(Aaron Ross/Reuters)Violence in the Kasai region of Congo appears to be escalating significantly, as reports emerged over the weekend of the decapitation of 42 police officers tasked with fighting a regional militia known as Kamuina Nsapu. The Kasai region is exceptionally poor and remote in a country that is largely without public infrastructure and teeters on the brink of lawlessness. Across Congo, ethnic tension has combined with feelings of regional neglect to produce large-scale conflicts over the past two decades. This suggests that the conflict in Kasai may be more generally aimed at outsiders, rather than having narrower ethnic motivations. The police officers who were ambushed and beheaded by the militia on Friday were on their way to Kananga.

Source: Washington Post March 26, 2017 19:10 UTC