At least 22 killed in western DRC

At least 22 dead as western DRC violence rages
M&G 5/3/2008
Clashes between separatists and police sent to impose order in the Democratic Republic of Congo's western Bas-Congo flared again on Tuesday, the official death toll rising to 22 after five days of violence. Police, bolstered by hundreds of reinforcements, began battling members of the ethnic-based political and religious movement Bundu dia Kongo (BDK) in the town of Luozi ... BDK's followers are campaigning for the reestablishment of the pre-colonial Kongo kingdom, which encompasses parts of present-day Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, and Gabon. Bas-Congo Governor Simon Mbatshi told journalists in the provincial capital Matadi that the number of dead had risen to 22 ... Fighting erupted late on Monday in the town of Sekebanza, 80km north of Matadi, and continued into Tuesday morning ... "The police arrived to attack the BDK. They regrouped in their chapel with rocks and machetes. It went on for a long time last night, but only lasted 10 minutes this morning," said a witness who asked not to be named. Guy Ngumbi, the chief of staff at Sekebanza's General Hospital, said doctors had treated six people with gunshot wounds since Monday, but added that the number of victims of the clashes remained unclear. "At the hospital we have not yet received any dead, but we are in contact with the population, and out in the neighbourhoods there are a lot of dead." ... Three people suspected of being witches were burned alive by BDK members last week ... In January 2007, 105 people died in a military crackdown on BDK supporters protesting alleged fraud in provincial governor polls. A UN human rights report accused authorities of using "excessive and indiscriminate lethal force" ...