Kisangani, June 22nd, 2025 (CPA) – A ritual ceremony to seal the peace between the Mbole and Lengola communities was held on Saturday in the village of Osio, 17 km from Kisangani in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, after several months of tension, the CPA noted. ‘The aim of this event is to definitively seal, before God, the notables and the ancestors, the peace agreement between the various Mbole and Lengola communities, in order to give the province of Tshopo every opportunity for reconstruction and development’, said the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in charge of the Homeland, Jacquemin Shabani Lukoo, who called for a collective commitment to turning the page on conflict.
The Deputy Prime Minister warned against any act of sabotage of the peace process, warning that troublemakers would be prosecuted in the strongest terms. He also invited the communities to liberate the villages still occupied, encourage the return of the inhabitants and restart agricultural activities.
For his part, the Governor of Tshopo, Paulin Lendongolia, praised the personal involvement of President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi in the reconciliation process, as well as the commitment of the Ministry of the Interior, which he described as crucial to the province’s stability. The two communities reiterate their commitment to living together It is worth noting that the two communities have renewed the commitments they made at the Peace Forum on December 19th, 2024, affirming their desire to live together again in harmony and to allow the unhindered return of displaced persons. In a joint statement, their representatives described the ritual as ‘an act that definitively buries the hatchet’, calling for peaceful cohabitation and exemplary sanctions against any attempt at destabilization, regardless of ethnic origin. This communal conflict caused several deaths and more than 8,000 displaced persons in 2023, it was reported.