Renewed rebel clashes in Congo take 16 lives

At least 16 people have been killed as Fresh clashes broke out between rival armed groups in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Rival armed groups are targeting each other's families, killing children, women and the elderly amid a security vacuum after Congo's army redeployed elsewhere to capture a defector general, Bosco Ntagand. "All these areas which are without the army, without protection, have been seized again by the (Hutu rebel group) FDLR," a parliamentarian from the region and member of the ruling coalition, Jean Luc Mutokambali said on Friday. "That's leading to self-defense groups like Raia Mutomboki," he added, referring to a local militia involved in the clashes. Local villagers blame the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan rebel group for some of the country's worst violence in years saying the militia has killed 180 Congolese people in the past 10 days alone. Congo has faced numerous problems over the past few decades, such as grinding poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and a war in the east that has dragged on for over a decade and left over 5.5 million people dead.