At least 23 civilians were killed overnight from Sunday to Monday in an attack attributed to the ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) in a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local sources have learned. .
“Twenty-four people, including six women, were killed in this ADF incursionin the village of Makugwe, in Beni territory in North Kivu, Roger Wangeve, president of local civil society, told AFP.
Reinforce military equipment
Staying in this village, the provincial deputy Saidi Balikwisha spoke to him of a record of “23 people killed“. This elected official pleaded for an increase in “well-endowed and well-equipped military personnel, well-treated“to hope to be able”anticipate enemy attacks“.
According to Roger Wangeve, among the victims are 17 people who were “in a small bar where they had beer“. The ADFs”executed them all“, he said. At least seven residential houses were burned, three pharmacies and eleven shops looted, while the number “of civilians taken to the bush is not yet knownadded Roger Wangeve.
“We regret and we ask ourselves the question: “how can it be possible to kill the population a few meters from the military camp?“”, he wondered.
One of the deadliest bands in the east
Questioned by AFP, Colonel Charles Omeonga, administrator of the territory of Beni, indicated that the armed forces were “in pursuit of the enemywhich, according to him, hashidden in the population“.
The ADF, Muslim rebels of Ugandan origin, are active in the north of North Kivu and the south of the neighboring province of Ituri. This armed faction, presented by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) as its branch in central Africa, is one of the deadliest groups in the eastern region of the DRC.
Their last major action dates back to January 15 when at least 14 people were killed and 63 others injured in a bomb attack in a Pentecostal (Evangelical Protestant) church. The ADF were placed in 2021 by the United States in their list of “foreign terrorist organizations“, in connection with the IS.
HAVEALSO – Mali: “There will be an extension of the jihadist threat”