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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Rights group decries fighting by Mayi-Mayi, police

NAIROBI, 30 May 2003 (IRIN) - A human rights group from Katanga Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has decried a fresh outbreak of fighting between Mayi-Mayi militiamen and police in the isolated Malemba Nkulu region in central Katanga.

A report by the NGO Commission de vulgarisation des droits de l'homme et de developpement (CVDHO) said fighting broke out on 13 May in Kayumba and Malemba Centre and resulted in the deaths of several civilians, including a local administrator, his secretary and the clerk of a local court. According to the NGO, the leader of the Mayi-Mayi faction, Kabale Makana a Nshimba, was also killed.

The report said that police had fled Malemba Centre after militiamen seeking revenge attacked the police station, leaving the population at the mercy of "the new strongmen".

In a report issued in March, CVDHO singled out Kabale and his followers as being ringleaders of rampant human rights abuses in the region and described them as "a bunch of mystical cannibalistic false Mayi-Mayi". It appealed to the international community to establish a commission of inquiry into the alleged violations.

In its latest report, CVDHO, which is based in the city of Lubumbashi in southern Katanga, called on the local authorities to assure the security of the population. It also appealed for independent investigations into the alleged violations of human rights, including cannibalism.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

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