Renewed fighting near Beni among and between rebel groups after last month’s provisional power-sharing agreement has displaced 180,000 people since December 17. Observers report that thousands of indigenous pygmy people are among those who are fleeing the violence. There are also reports of atrocities committed against pygmy populations by rebel militias in the area, including credible accounts of rebel forces killing and eating pygmies who failed to provide food for soldiers. At least 600,000 people have been displaced in the troubled Ituri region since 1999. The Ituri Forest is home to the Efe people, a pygmy group.
