(SomaliNet) The UN-backed radio station Radio Okapi reported on Monday that fighting between rival militia factions in DR Congo's eastern region of Nord-Kivu left at least two people dead and four injured. According to reports, the clashes were between a Mai Mai faction led by Munuka Mtubo Jackson and one led by Kakule La Fontaine, and took place at Kasiki, south of Lubero district and about 100km northwest of the regional capital Goma.
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The fighting forced many civilians in the area to flee their homes. Colonel Delphin Kahimbi, the second-in-command of Congolese forces in NordKivu, confirmed the clashes. He said that the fighting had started on Saturday, had intensified by late Sunday and continued until early Monday.
The two rival militias have been fighting for control of parts of the Nord-Kivu district of Lubero for several months now. The Mai Mai is a local militia that helped the DRCongo army fight defend the east of the country from their neighbours Rwanda and Uganda in the late 1990s. After the conflict however, they refused to stand down and began fighting to carve out their own fiefdoms in the mineral-rich territory.
Jackson, after years of fighting the DR Congo army, recently agreed in principle to let his troops merge with the regular army. But his soldiers have yet to report to official military camps for integration into the armed forces.