Endre Vestvik, CRN/Hope In Action – As a result of heavy fighting in the nearby Masisi mountains, hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people gather in refugee camps outside of Goma.
In the beginning of the week, two witnesses explained their experiences with the UPC politics and leadership.
The Prosecution called on author and historian Gerard Prunier to explain how the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo developed. He testified that in the conflict there were two ethnic groups that fought in the Ituri Region: Hema, the minority in the region, whom the UPC fought for, and the Lendu militias.
Prunier explained that after the Belgian rule in the 1960s ended there was very little political structure and therefore: “People focused on the lowest common denominator. They focused on what they knew,” Prunier told the court. “And that was their tribal allegiances.”
This post was created by Kate Davey through sourcing from the reporting of Rachel Irwin and Meribeth Deen for lubangatrial.org.