President Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo flew to Kinshasa to hold quick talks with his DRC counterpart Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo.
According to Kinshasa regime, the two leaders on Saturday discussed deteriorating security in eastern DRC.
For about 1hr.30minutes, the two leaders also had a working session with their close advisers and explored subjects of common interest such as bilateral cooperation, peace and sub-regional security.
“The Kinshasa meeting was an opportunity for the two Heads of State to take stock of other issues of common interest in order to strengthen mutual trust between the two neighboring countries and their respective peoples,” according to a source in the DRC presidency.
The two leaders also discussed the ongoing inter-communal violence in the territory of Kwamouth, Mai-Ndombe province, Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to Martin Suta, vice president of the Kwamouth civil society, two tribes of Yaka and Teke have been clashing since last year leading to dozens of deaths. At least 70 people have been killed since communal violence erupted in the area Aug. 19.
The clashes are reportedly over access to land, and stem from assertions by the Teke community that they are indigenous to the area, and that the Yaka community are foreign to the area. The Yaka assert that Teke customary authorities unfairly overtax them.
According to provincial authorities, more than 35,000 people have moved from the provinces of Maï-Ndombe and Kwilu to several localities in the same provinces, as well as to the neighboring provinces of Kwango and Kinshasa.
In a recent statement, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bruno Lemarquis, who called for urgent measures to be taken to stem the escalation of violence and provide an emergency humanitarian response in the two provinces, had reported that more than 1,400 people have crossed the Congo River to find refuge in the Republic of Congo.
