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Gunmen kill two Congolese aid workers in troubled east
KALEMIE, DR Congo, Nov 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Gunmen shot dead two Congolese
aid workers last week in the DR Congo’s southeastern province of Tanganyika
where a conflict rages between Pygmies and Bantus, their employer said
Tuesday.
“We are devastated to confirm the tragic loss of our two staff members,”
Mike Meyers, head of the US group Food for the Hungry, said in a statement.
The two men were killed on their way to work last Thursday morning, 80
kilometres (50 miles) from the Tanganyika capital Kalemie, the statement
said.
Food for the Hungry “has suspended all operations in the area and is
engaging with local authorities in the ongoing investigation to seek
justice,” the statement said.
The inter-ethnic unrest in the province — one of the DR Congo’s most
forgotten conflicts — forced up to 600,000 people to flee their homes at its
height in 2016-17, according to humanitarian groups.
Today, around 67,000 displaced Bantus of the Luma ethnic group live in 12
camps surrounding Kalemie.
Attacks against aid workers are frequent in the DR Congo, and humanitarian
groups say the situation is worsening.
Last week the UN warned that conflicts in eastern DR Congo could hamper
the ability to stage much-delayed elections on December 23 for a successor to
President Joseph Kabila.
The poverty-stricken former Belgian colony has not seen a peaceful
transition of power since 1960.
BSS/AFP/RY/1945 hrs