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The Ituri conflict was a major conflict between the agriculturalist Lendu and pastoralist Hema ethnic groups in the Ituri region of the north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). While the two groups had fought since as early as 1972, the conflict itself lasted from 1999 to 2003.〔Uppsala Conflict Data Program Conflict Encyclopedia, Conflict Name: (Hema – Lendu, Conflict Summary, Non-state Conflict )〕 A low level armed conflict continues to the present day.〔 The conflict was complicated by the presence of various armed groups (many of which had participated in the Second Congo War), the large quantities of small arms in the region, the area's abundant natural resources and wealth, and the existing ethnic tensions throughout the region. The Lendu ethnicity was largely represented by the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) while the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) claimed to be fighting for the Hema. The conflict was extremely violent and was accompanied by large-scale massacres perpetrated by members of both ethnic factions.〔 In 2006, the BBC reported that as many as 60,000 people had died in Ituri since 1998.〔 Hundreds of thousands of people were forced from their homes, becoming refugees. In June 2003, the European Union begun Operation Artemis, sending a French-led peacekeeping force to Ituri. The EU force managed to take control of the regional capital of Bunia. Despite this, however, fighting and massacres continued in the countryside.〔 In December 2003, the Hema-backed UPC split and fighting decreased significantly.〔 ==Background== Ethnic tension between the Lendu and Hema can be traced to the colonial period when the area was part of the Belgian Congo. The Belgian colonial administrators favored the Hema, resulting in education and wealth disparities between the two groups. This divergence continued into modern times. Despite this, the two peoples have largely lived together peacefully and extensively intermarried. While the northern Hema speak Lendu, the southern Hema speak Hema. The Hema and Lendu have longstanding grievances about land issues that erupted into conflict on at least three previous occasions: 1972, 1985 and 1996. Much of the animosity revolves around the 1973 land use law, which allows people to buy land they do not inhabit and then force the residents to leave two years later when ownership can no longer be legally contested. Unscrupulous use of the law forced families to leave their homes because they were unaware it had been bought by someone else. Some Hema were apparently attempting to take land from Lendu using this tactic in 1999. The 1994 Rwandan genocide sent psychological shockwaves throughout the Great Lakes region. The murder of 800,000 people on the basis of ethnicity served to make people even more aware of their tribal and linguistic affiliations. The subsequent influx of Hutu refugees into the region, which led to the First Congo War, served as further emphasis. However, it was not until the Second Congo War, which began in 1998, that the situation between the Hema and Lendu reached the level of regional conflict. Much of the northern DRC, including Orientale Province, was occupied and under the nominal control of the invading Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) and the Ugandan-backed Kisangani faction of the rebel Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD-K) under the leadership of Ernest Wamba dia Wamba. The widespread conflict was accompanied by an influx of assault rifles and other firearms. While land disputes used to be fought with bows and arrows, the easy availability of small arms vastly increased the destructiveness of the fighting. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ituri conflict」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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