The United States government has imposed sanctions on Musa Baluku, the leader of the Islamist rebel group, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), and five others for perpetrating serious human rights abuses including mass rape, torture, and killings in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the U.S. Treasury said on Tuesday, reported Reuters.
According to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Baluku assisted the rebel group by arranging for recruitment, logistics, administration, financing, and operations coordination. He became the leader of the group after its former leader Jamil Mukulu was arrested in Tanzania four years ago.
The ADF “continues to perpetuate widespread violence and innumerable human rights abuses including the abduction, recruitment, and use of children during attacks and other violent operations,” the U.S. Treasury said.
The sanctions allow the U.S. government to seize any property or account the people have in the U.S. and prohibit anyone in the U.S. from doing business with them.
The other five ADF members who have been sanctioned are Amigo Kibirige, Muhammed Lumisa, Elias Segujja, Kayiira Muhammad and Amisi Kasadha.
The rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) is accused of killing over 100 people in a series of raids on villages over the last six weeks, hampering efforts to end the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the area. The group has set its base in the dense jungles of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and has been carrying out kidnappings and looting along with other local militias and leaders.
There has been a surge in attacks on civilians since the army began large-scale operations to uproot the ADF in October.
The DRC is currently facing the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak. 3,298 Ebola cases have been detected until now out of which 2,195 have died since the outbreak was declared in August 2018.
