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. 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. 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.

Source: The Star April 26, 2018 16:52 UTC