Military operations with Uganda were launched against militias in the eastern Congo, placed under a state of emergency in May 2021.
Le Monde with AFP
About fifty civilians were killed in attacks by alleged rebels from allied democratic forces (ADF) against several villages in the disturbed province of Ituri, in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ), we learned, Monday, March 14, of local source.
“Four villages were attacked by Ugandan rebels of the ADF” who killed 19 people on Sunday in the territory of Irumu, told AFP Christophe Munyanderu, Coordinator of the Convention for the respect of the respect of the rights of The man in Ituri, a local NGO.
These are villages, as a “career where we lost civilians, to Apakolu 4 civilians, in Apamayaya 2 and Kimautu we have 5 dead,” he detailed.
Monday, the Apende and Ndimo villages have also been the target of ADF attacks that killed it respectively “18 and 15 civilians. In total, one counts at least 52 civilians killed between Sunday and Monday,” added Mr. Munyanderu, indicating that it was an interim asset.
More than twenty-five years of violence
“These ADF rebels still killed (…). We found 18 bodies in Apende,” said anonymity in AFP a military manager in the region. “52 Civilians it’s too many, it hurts the heart,” said Munyanderu, believing that “if all alerts in the civilian population were taken into consideration, these ADFs would not have killed so many people.”
All attacked villages are located in the Chefferie de Walese Vonkutu, an enclosed area, on the border with the province of North Kivu. On the weekend, about thirty people were killed on the North Kivu side in attacks launched by suspected ADF.
In May 2021, the two Congolese provinces have been undergoing the violence of armed groups for more than twenty-five years, including ADFs. This exceptional measure gave full power to the military and aims to end the activity of armed groups.
A joint military operation Ugando-Congolese was launched at the end of November against these rebels, accused of massacres of civilians in the east of the DRC and jihadist attacks on Ugandan soil. The Islamic State (EI) group considers ADFs as its branch in Central Africa.