Between August 9 and August 16, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) launched attacks on the eastern North Kivu province’s Beni and Lubero territories, according to a Monday report from MONUSCO, citing fears that the death toll could rise even higher.
Despite a number of peace agreements signed in recent months, the DRC army and the M23 group are engaged in a separate conflict that is raging in the east of the nation. By August 18th, the government and M23 had agreed to reach a permanent peace agreement, but no announcement was made on Monday.
According to MONUSCO, the most recent ADF “violence was accompanied by kidnappings, looting, the burning of houses, vehicles, and motorcycles, as well as the destruction of property belonging to populations already in precarious humanitarian conditions.” According to the spokesperson for the mission, it “pronounced the attacks in the most uncannily terms.”
In the mineral-rich east of the DRC, there are several militias fighting over land and resources.
According to Lieutenant Elongo Kyondwa Marc, a representative of the regional Congolese army, the ADF was attempting to retaliate against civilians after their defeats by Congolese forces.
Over the weekend, the chief of Lubero’s Bapere sector, Macaire Sivikunula, told the Reuters news agency, “When they arrived, they first woke the residents, gathered them in one place, tied them up with ropes, and then began to massacre them with machetes and hoes.”
Authorities in Komanda city, Ituri province, claimed the group, who had reportedly slowed in recent months, killed nearly 40 people last month when it stormed a Catholic church while holding a vigil and shot at many women and children.
In the northeastern DRC, former Ugandan rebels formed the ADF, which has since increased looting and killings. In the 1990s, the group has killed thousands of civilians and increased looting and killings.
The organization relocated its activities to the DRC in 2002 following military assaults by Ugandan forces. It swore allegiance to ISIL in 2019.
At least nine people have died overnight from Saturday through Sunday in an attack on the town of Oicha in North Kivu, according to security and local sources, out of the 52 people who have been killed so far this month.
According to local and security sources, the ADF had already killed at least 40 people in several Bapere towns in North Kivu province just a few days prior.
In response to the additional attacks, MONUSCO announced that it had increased its military presence in a number of sectors and provided refuge for a number of civilians.
Source: Aljazeera
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