• Rival militias fought for a second day over a gold mine in the troubled northeastern province of Ituri, where three people died.
• Residents say that fighting between the FRPI and FPIC started Friday around the Tulabo mine in Irumu territory.

On Saturday, rival militias fought for a second day over the DR Congo gold mine in the troubled northeastern province of Ituri, where three people died.

There are a lot of armed groups in Ituri and the nearby area of North Kivu. Many of them are left over from two wars in the area that happened about 25 years ago.

Since May 2021, the militias in Ituri and North Kivu have been under a “state of siege” led by the army.

Residents say that fighting between the Patriotic Resistance Force of Ituri (FRPI) and the Patriotic and Integrationist Force of the Congo (FPIC) started Friday around the Tulabo mine in Irumu territory.

“FRPI militiamen built a camp to exploit the Tulabo gold mine. It’s a provocation. During the fighting to drive them out, two were killed and one died on our side”, said Kabulano Nyamabo, an FPIC spokesman.

A spokesman for the FRPI said the two deaths were true.

“Some of our elements can end up exploiting gold illegally. But the FPIC attacked us for no reason,” the militia’s spokesman Muno Munobi told AFP.

The army said that it had brought back order.

“The regiment commander and his men arrived on the ground and the army imposed order. We are already putting in place a mechanism to control the natural resources” in this area, said Lieutenant Jules Ngongo, a spokesman for the army in Ituri.

Just a few weeks ago, the two groups signed agreements saying they would stop fighting.

In 2017, the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO) militia started fighting again in gold-rich Ituri.

CODECO is blamed for a number of ethnic massacres and is seen as one of the most dangerous militias in the east.

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