Aid agencies in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed dozens of people, probably numbering 50, have been killed during recent clashes between ethnic groups in the country.

Though the country has been plagued by violence the better part of the year, with hundreds killed, and millions displaced, as fallout of a political crisis caused by president joseph Kabila refusing to step down, the recent violence has been between a group of Twa pygmies, who attacked the Luba, a Bantu ethnic group.

The pygmies, who live in the great lakes region, have fought the Luba for decades, over what activists say are inequalities between Bantu villagers and the Twa hunter gatherers.

The UN is concerned the violence is spiraling out of control, worsened by the political crisis, as hopes that fresh elections could be conducted this year, dim.