A storm in the fish ponds

What seemed to start as a local quarrel has turned into a new challenge to the beleaguered Congolese state

Small rows can end in great slaughter and the Congolese government is powerless to limit it. A humanitarian catastrophe and a political uprising started around some fish ponds in Equateur Province. In March and April this year, armed young men from the Enyele (or Lobala) clan confronted their Boba (or Monzaya) rivals in Boyele village near Dongo, a town of some 15,000 people on the Ubangui River, 230 kilometres from Gemena, Equateur Province.

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Lambert Mendé, Congo-Brazzaville, Guy Inenge, Edo Bokoto, Adjani, Udjani, Jean-Pierre Bemba, Benjamin Nyangbaka, Emeka Nyanakala, Jean-Baptiste Lumbwe, Adolphe Muzito, Patrick Mayombe, Célestin Mbuyu Kabango, , Dongo deserted, Benjamin Alongaboni, Joseph Kabila, Honoré Ngbanda Nzambo, Terminator, Mobutu Sese Seko, Ambroise Lobala Mokobe, Léon Kengo wa Dondo, Rwandan, Belgian, , Belgian troop confusion, Jacques Njoli, Jeannot Bemba Saolona, José Makila, Jean-Claude Baende, Jean-Lucien Busa, Gabriel Bolenge, Central African Republic, François Bozizé, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, Radio Okapi, Mouvement de Libération du Congo, Mission des Nations Unies en République Démocratique du Congo, Police Nationale Congolaise, Médecins sans Frontières, Patriotes-Résistants de Dongo, Alliance des Patriotes pour la Refondation du Congo, Africa Confidential

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