In-Depth
Ituri Province, DRC
A forgotten conflict erupts in northeastern Congo
After a decade of relative calm, violence made a sudden and brutal return to the region at the start of 2018
A wave of killings, rape, and arson has prompted tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in 2018, many of them across Lake Albert to Uganda.
Residents of the province hoped they had turned a page on such bloodshed, that they would never again see a repeat of the carnage that took place between 1999 and 2003. Some 55,000 people were killed then in clashes between militias drawn from the Hema and Lendu communities. The severity of that conflict, in large part orchestrated by Uganda and Rwanda, led to the deployment of an EU military force and to some of the key warlords becoming the first people charged by the International Criminal Court.
But in early 2018, violence broke out again. By March, scores of civilians had reportedly been killed in fresh clashes, and more than 48,000 refugees had arrived in Uganda. A further 100,000 people remained displaced inside Congo as the conflict raged on. The recent violence was set against the backdrop of deepening humanitarian crises in Congo's southern Kasai and eastern Kivu provinces, feeding growing uncertainty as President Joseph Kabila clung to power.
The articles in this in-depth provide a detailed chronicle of Ituri’s recent history.

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Feature
For victims of the Ituri conflict’s sexual violence, aid is scarce
20 March 2018Feature
Tales of terror from Congo’s Ituri province
8 March 2018News
After conflict, cholera
8 March 2018Feature
Mob violence rife in DRC’s Ituri
17 April 2014Feature
UN, DRC forces set sights on Orientale
13 December 2013News
Armed groups in eastern DRC
31 October 2013News
Violence hampers aid work in Ituri
21 August 2012News
Lubanga verdict “a first step”
14 March 2012News
Fragile peace holding in Ituri
6 July 2011News
Hoping for peace in Ituri
10 February 2009News
ICC trial screening turns sour in Bunia
27 January 2009News
Children "languishing in Ituri prisons"
14 July 2008Feature
Pacifying Ituri: Achievements and challenges ahead
8 July 2008News
Ituri demobilisation wins UNDP support
5 June 2007News
Weapons destroyed as disarmament picks up in Ituri
22 May 2007News
Three mass graves discovered in Ituri
24 November 2006News
Militiamen still taxing civilians despite leader joining army
27 October 2006News
12 militias killed in clashes with army in Ituri
9 October 2006News
Recently demobilised militiamen re-arming in volatile Ituri district
17 September 2006News
Militia leader gets 20-year jail sentence
3 August 2006News
Military operations in Ituri counter productive - report
22 June 2006Feature
Who's who in Ituri - militia organisations, leaders
20 April 2005News
Key Ituri militia group declares end to war
14 April 2005Feature
Reintegrating Ituri's ex-militias, an uphill task
8 April 2005News
Another key Ituri leader arrested
22 March 2005News
UN agency to act on Ituri human rights violations
17 March 2005News
Aid resumes for 88,000 displaced amid uneasy calm in Ituri - OCHA
10 March 2005News
Situation in Ituri IDP camps "alarming" - MSF, OCHA
7 March 2005News
15,000 refugees now fled Ituri fighting, UNHCR says
17 January 2005News
Ituri conflict linked to illegal exploitation of natural resources
3 September 2004News
MONUC investigators attacked in Ituri
5 February 2004News
"Urgent needs" along Solenyama-Blukwa axis in Ituri
24 November 2003News
ICC to investigate business links to Ituri crimes
26 September 2003Interview
IRIN interview with Ituri administration leader Petronille Vaweka
17 September 2003Interview
IRIN interview with Ituri militia leader Thomas Lubanga
29 August 2003News
EU calls Artemis operation "a big success"
17 September 2003Interview
Interview with Brig-Gen Jan Isberg, acting Ituri Brigade commander
3 September 2003News
Priest appeals for safety of orphans trapped in Fataki, Ituri
11 August 2003News
22 civilians killed and mutilated in Nizi, Ituri District
22 July 2003News
Ituri clashes worsen humanitarian situation in the west - report
13 June 2003Feature
Ituri's Greek Cypriot community finally flees
22 May 2003News
Uganda denies leaving behind weaponry in Bunia
15 May 2003News
200 MONUC troops arrive in Ituri District
23 April 2003Feature
Ituri braces for Ugandan pullout
17 April 2003News
MLC completes Ituri rights violations trials, subject to appeal
27 February 2003News
Pygmies demand a tribunal for crimes against them in Ituri
28 January 2003Feature
Focus on Ituri refugees in Uganda
18 December 2002News
"Humanitarian catastrophe" emerging in Ituri, UN says
14 November 2002News
Kinshasa slams Rwandan army "infiltration" of Ituri
28 August 2002Feature
IRIN Focus on Hema-Lendu conflict
15 November 1999
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