Separatists and police in Congo clashed again yesterday, with the official death toll rising to 22 after five days of violence. Police battled members of the ethnic-based political and religious movement Bundu dia Kongo (BDK) in Luozi, 125 miles west of the capital, Kinshasa, last week. The fighting continued yesterday as police pursued BDK members from town to town in an attempt to maintain order.
BDK's followers want the re-establishment of the pre-colonial Kongo kingdom, which encompasses parts of the present-day Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo and Gabon.A 17,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping mission has yet to reach the scene of the violence. |