deadly attacks by FDLR

Both attacks took place between 1 and 4 January in the territory of Shabunda the province of South Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. At least 45 people were killed and 13 others injured in two attacks by Rwandan Hutu rebels.

An initial assessment were 26 dead and 13 wounded.

The two attacks are attributed to the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

According to a spokesman for the military operations Amani Leo (Congolese army and UN peacekeepers) for North and South Kivu, 18 deaths were reported to Luyulu, 12 to 15 Ngolombe and in other small villages and 13 wounded.

Much of the population was forcibly taken into the forest by the attackers and it is not known if they were subsequently killed, he said.

The localities are easily accessible and attacked the army was not deployed.

According to Colonel Ekenge, villagers have apparently paid the price for their support to local Mai-Mai groups of self-defense fighting the Rwandan FDLR rebels.

The FDLR is accused of participating in the genocide in neighboring Rwanda massacres of Huts and moderate Hutus in 1994, which were 800,000 dead according to the UN, and to commit in the eastern DRC atrocities, rape and murder, particularly against civilians.

In October, the President elected Joseph Kabila had acknowledged that "negotiations" between the DRC and the rebels had "completely failed"

BBC