Ten people, including five civilians and five soldiers from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s army, were killed in an attack on a bar in the violence-stricken northeastern region of Ituri province, officials have confirmed.
The province has long been plagued by conflict between rival ethnic militias, leading to thousands of civilian deaths and widespread displacement. On Sunday evening, armed assailants stormed a bar in the town of Nizi, located 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the regional capital, Bunia.
Colonel Ruphin Mapela, the police administrator in Djugu, reported that the attackers killed a traditional chief and three others, including a civil society representative, on the spot. A fifth civilian later died from gunshot wounds after being rushed to the hospital.
The attack prompted a response from the Congolese armed forces stationed in Nizi, during which five soldiers lost their lives, according to provincial army spokesman Lieutenant Jules Ngongo. He added that the attackers had ambushed the soldiers.
“Initial evidence clearly points to the Zaire militia as the perpetrators of this crime,” Ngongo said.
The Zaire militia, formed in 2019, claims to defend the interests of the Hema ethnic community against the rival Lendu tribe. The attack has left Nizi deserted, with residents fleeing the area and schools yet to reopen, according to local civil society leader Jean-Paul Malo Lotsima.
Earlier in July, traditional leaders from the Mambisa chiefdom, where Nizi is located, raised concerns with the provincial governor about the increasing presence of Zaire militiamen in the region.
Ituri province, rich in gold, has been a flashpoint for violence since the late 1990s. Inter-communal violence between the Hema and Lendu communities resulted in thousands of deaths between 1999 and 2003 until European forces intervened. The conflict flared up again in 2017, leading to renewed bloodshed and mass displacement.