CODECO fighters blamed the attack on camps of internally displaced people in Ituri province.
More than 45 people have been killed in an attack on a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the United Nations peacekeeping mission there.
The attack, which took place Sunday night into Monday morning, is believed to have been carried out by fighters belonging to a coalition of militia groups called the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO). Fighters massacred vulnerable displaced people in the Lala transition area in Djugu territory, the UN said.
The site is located 5km (3 miles) from Bule, the site of the UN peacekeeping base.
CODECO claims to protect the Lendu community from another ethnic group, the Hema, as well as the DRC army.
In a statement, the UN peacekeeping mission extended its condolences to the families of the victims and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
“This attack constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law and (the peacekeeping mission) wishes to recall that deliberate attacks against civilian populations may constitute war crimes,” said the statement.
Maki Lombe, a witness, also told the Reuters news agency that he saw “more than 40 bodies” lying on the ground. He survived by escaping at night, he said.
“They started shooting, many people burned their homes, others were killed with machetes,” Desire Malodra, civil society representative, told AFP.
The victims will be buried in a mass grave, Charite Banza, head of a local civil rights group, told Reuters.
“We have no security here, we say it every day,” Banza said, noting that the attack happened days after talks between armed groups in Ituri.
“No reason for the bloody attack has yet been given,” he added.
CODECO often targets displacement camps. It killed around 60 people in another camp near Bule last year, in one of its deadliest massacres.
Much of eastern DRC is plagued by dozens of armed groups, a legacy of regional wars that erupted in the 1990s and 2000s. The country has the largest population of IDPs in Africa, with the UN estimating that at least 5.6 million have been displaced from their homes by the conflict.
In Ituri, where the number of IDPs at the beginning of the year reached 1.5 million, attacks that claim dozens of lives are common. About 70,000 displaced people arrived in Bule between April 15 and May 15 due to armed violence in the surrounding areas, the UN humanitarian office (OCHA) said in its latest report.
Last week, CODECO fighters attacked an army position in the Djukoth area of the province’s Mahagi territory, killing at least seven civilians.