DRC: Rebel Attack Kills At Least 46 People In Northeastern Part Of The Country

At least 46 people were killed in a brutal militant attack on Thursday in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The attack is believed to be carried out by elements of the Uganda rebel group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

The rebel group attacked the chiefdom of Walese Vonkutu, a locality near the DRC’s North Kivu province where the Congolese armed forces have been fighting the ADF rebellion for over six years.

“We have been alerted of an ADF attack. They killed several pygmies. The latest information shows 46 dead,” Adio Gidi, the provincial interior minister in the Ituri province, told Anadolu Agency.

Gidi said a mission will be dispatched to the area on Friday to determine the final toll. He didn’t give any other details.

The ADF rebel group has been mainly attacking localities around Beni, Irumu, and Mambasa territory for over a year. It originated in Uganda’s northeast in the 1990s. The group has been attacking and killing civilians and UN personnel in eastern DRC for the past years. It has also carried out several attacks against security forces and MONUSCO, including an attack in December 2017, in which 15 Tanzanian peacekeepers lost their lives and more than 40, were injured.

According to the United Nations, the illicit exploitation of natural resources continues to be a root cause and driver of conflict in the east of the country.

Earlier this month, at least 25 civilians were killed after rebels attacked the villages of Tingwe, Mwenda, and Nzenga, near Beni territory, in the DRC’s North Kivu province.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack and reiterated his call for a global ceasefire and urged all armed groups to lay down their weapons.  He also urged the DRC authorities to take concrete steps to address the drivers of conflict in the east of the country.