A minimum of 22 ethnic Teke civilians had been killed in late November when militia fighters attacked a village in western Democratic Republic of Congo, within the newest episode of intercommunal violence that has plagued the area since 2022.
The bloodbath in Nkana village, positioned in Kwamouth territory roughly 75 kilometers northeast of the capital Kinshasa, was carried out by fighters from the Mobondo militia, which is aligned with the Yaka ethnic group. The Teke are indigenous to western Congo and have long-established customary land rights within the space. Human Rights Watch, which documented the assault in a report launched Tuesday, mentioned fighters armed with firearms and machetes killed “largely ethnic Teke villagers of their houses as they tried to flee.”
The assault was apparently triggered by the refusal of Teke residents to nominate a Yaka customary chief. Within the days main as much as the assault, threatening messages had been despatched to some Teke villagers.
HRW described the killings as “an obvious retaliatory assault linked to rising intercommunal tensions.” The group urged Congolese authorities to take rapid motion to deal with the foundation causes of the violence. The group warned that failure to behave decisively dangers entrenching cycles of revenge that would destabilize areas near the capital.
Kwamouth territory has skilled repeated clashes between Yaka and Teke communities since June 2022, pushed by disputes over land, customary authority, and political illustration. The violence has drawn condemnation from civil society activists, human rights teams, and conventional authorities.
Following the assault, Congolese authorities deployed army personnel to the realm and introduced an investigation. Some lawmakers have known as on the provincial meeting to undertake pressing measures to deal with the humanitarian disaster.
