KIGALI, May 10: Ethnic clashes flared again on Saturday in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town of Bunia a day after a violent standoff outside a UN peacekeepers compound, UN officials said.

On Friday evening armed men among a large crowd of civilians protesting against MONUC’s failure to maintain security in Bunia fired shots into the UN compound, prompting troops inside to return warning shots into the air.

“Fighting has started again around the market, between Lendu groups and the remnants of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC),” Mamadou Bah, a spokesman for the UN military mission in the DRC (MONUC) said earlier in the day.

The UPC is a small Hema rebel movement driven from the town by the Ugandan army on March 6.

Control of Bunia was reportedly equally divided between the Hema and Lendu militia.

Speaking later on Saturday evening, Bah said relative calm had returned to the town.—AFP