Homes torched in village feud in DR Congo

Village's two schools are afraid of opening and the population has fled, said local chief

BUNIA: Seventy-eight homes were burned down in remote northeast Democratic Republic Congo in a feud between two villages over accusations of mass poisoning, a local leader said Monday.

Men from the village of Umoyo last Tuesday ransacked the village of Jupanduru and torched 78 homes, said Jean-Pierre Ukethmwu, a local chief.



"The situation here in Jupanduru is dramatic. The village's two schools are afraid of opening and the population has fled," he told AFP.

The two villages lie in the district of Mahagi, about 200 kilometres (120 miles) north of the Bunia, a city lying on DR Congo's troubled eastern border with Uganda. Ukethmwu said villagers in Umoyo suspected people in Jupanduru of having poisoned food that was served for a wake. Two people reportedly died and 32 needed hospitalisation.