Attachments
Situation in the DRC
• Episodes of inter-communal clashes have been continuing in the Kwamouth locality, Mai-Ndombé province, in South-West Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), since 25 July 2022. The conflict between the Teke and the Yaka started in a dispute over customary taxes on agricultural land use. The conflict has led to the internal displacement of 6,000 people in the DRC as of 29 August .
• Despite the deployment of FARDC governmental forces in Kwamouth, the security situation remains tense in Mai-Ndombé according to the international NGO MSF2. Civil society in Kwamouth reported a new wave of violence on 13 September3 . According to the local press, at least 30 people were killed in renewed violence between Teke and Yaka in Fadiaka village, Kwamouth territory. Nearly 70 people have been killed in less than two months4 . On 21 September, local authorities in Ngabé reported gunfire in the Kwamouth locality, and that the belligerents had threatened to attack before the end of the week.
• According to OCHA in the DRC5 , there is a risk that these inter-communal clashes may spread to further north to Yumbi territory, from where 8,000 people fled to the Republic of the Congo in 2018 in similar conflicts6 . The violence in Mai-Ndombé is spreading to neighbouring Kwilu province where about 90 people were massacred on 23 September, according to RFI media7 . Kwilu province is located to the south of MaiNdombé and borders Kinshasa province to the west.