The Hutu community in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has accused the Tutsi rebels of massacring Hutu people in an eastern town.
An ethnic Hutu leader, who only gave his name as Sekeburomo, said to reporters in Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, on Sunday that the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) committed the crime on Wednesday night and Thursday morning in Kiwanja, 75 km north of Goma.
"The troops of CNDP have prepared those massacres after the retreat of the Mai Mai militia," Sekeburomo said, without disclosing the death toll.
The pro-government Mai Mai militia claimed to take Kiwanja on Wednesday before the rebels loyal to renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda recaptured the town, where dozens of civilians were reportedly killed.
Sekeburomo also complained that his people were enduring illness, malnutrition and bombing every day at the camps for the displaced.
Ethnic Hutus represent 85 percent of the population in Rutsuru, Nyirangongo and Masisi in North Kivu, where the CNDP launched an advance late last month to force the retreat of the government forces.
UN officials estimate the recent fighting has displaced at least 230,000 people in the restive province.
The flare-up prompted a UN-backed African summit in Nairobi, Kenya last Friday. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the African leaders at the meeting that the international community will not allow a reoccurrence of the 1996-2003 wars in the DR Congo, which killed more than 5 million people and embroiled eight countries in the Great Lakes region.
Source: Xinhua
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