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Many feared dead in Congo attack | ||
One person has been confirmed dead, but an ethnic militia group that defends the community says 80 were killed. The United Nations, which has more than 3,000 peacekeepers in the area, is checking the massacre allegations. Fighting between ethnic militias in the northeast region of Ituri has claimed some 50,000 lives since July 1999. Upsurge in fighting According to the aid workers, the attack on Che - 60km north east of Bunia - took place in the early hours of Wednesday morning. A team trying to reach Che with food supplies for more than 7,000 displaced Hema people living there saw the village burning and were forced to turn back before reaching its centre.
Thomas Lubanga - leader of the Hema militia the Congolese Union of Patriots - told the BBC he believed Lendu militiamen were behind the attack. Violence resumed in the mineral rich province of Ituri last month, and the UN says some 10,000 people have been displaced by the fighting - many fleeing to neighbouring Uganda. According to the BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in Kinshasa, neither the UN nor the Congolese government appear able to end the fighting in the area. Disarming militia and forming a national army is one of the key challenges for DR Congo where elections are due to be held in June. | ||
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