16 September, 2017
Troops shot dead 18 Burundian refugees in clashes in Kamanyola in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials in the eastern province of South Kivu said Saturday, giving what they said was a provisional toll.
Kamanyola hosts 2,005 refugees and asylum-seekers from Burundi, most of whom arrived in 2015.
Congo is home to thousands of Burundian refugees.
Soldiers and police opened fire as the refugees tried to free some of their compatriots in Kamanyola, a town in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo near the Burundi border.
Activist Wendo Joel said the refugees had seized a weapon and killed a soldier, though that account was not confirmed by other sources.
A Burundian refugee said that more than 30 had been killed and at least 100 wounded. Thirty-nine gravely wounded Burundian refugees were evacuated by helicopter to the city of Bukavu, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo said.
Reuters TV footage showed more than 30 bodies covered by sheets on the roadside in Kamanyola, with many more wounded also lying in the street.
A Congolese government spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment, and the number of deaths and other details about the episode could not be independently verified.
In a statement, Burundi's main opposition grouping, CNARED, accused Burundian army troops and members of the ruling CNDD-FDD's youth group Imbonerakure of carrying out the killings with the Congolese army.
A Burundian refugee told AFP: "I saw people falling down, men, women and children who were completely unarmed".
"Clarifications are needed on the shootings & circumstances around", he added.
