Suspected ADF rebels kill 31 in eastern DR Congo

KIGALI, Rwanda

At least 31 people were killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern Ituri province, in the latest attack attributed to Uganda’s Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, a rights group said on Wednesday.

“These civilians were killed at the boundary between Mambasa and Irumu territories on Monday and Tuesday. The victims included men and women,” said Christophe Munyanderu, coordinator of the local group Convention for the Respect of Human Rights in Ituri.

He said that the death toll is expected to rise “because there are missing residents.”

Daniel Sumanzi, a civil society member in Irumu, confirmed the attack and said the dead included two girls aged 12 and 14, who were executed after being raped by the gunmen.

Civilians suffer regular attacks orchestrated by the ADF rebels and the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO) among other militias.

Thousands of people from the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri live in camps.

Since October 2022, at least 1,334 people, including 107 children, have been killed in these eastern provinces, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said last week.

In late 2021 Congolese and Ugandan militaries launched joint operations to flush out ADF rebels.

Gen. Wilson Mbasu Masudi, the chief of general staff of the Ugandan army and Congolese army’s Lt.-Gen. Christian Tshiwewe arrived in North Kivu province on Wednesday to assess the joint operation.