ADF Kill 30 Civilians In Attacks On Villages In Northeast DR Congo

Thirty persons were reported killed in attacks on villages in Ituri province of northeast Democratic Republic of Congo by suspected rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

The attacks took place on Sunday and Monday, April 10 and 11.

David Beiza, president of the Red Cross in Irumu territory, said the attacks took place in two villages around Komanda namely Mangusu, where 17 civilians were found dead, Shauri Moya where nine were killed as well as around the bridge over Ituri river where four deaths were recorded. 

“The ADF are in disarray after confrontations with the DR Congo armed forces, FARDC,”, said Beiza who said he had not been to the scene but relied on information from his teams on the ground.

Daniel Herabo, president of the civil society in the Basili chiefdom also confirmed there have been sounds of light and heavy weapon shots around Mangusu and Shauri Moya since Sunday. 

According to Herabo, the rebels first entered Shauri Moya on Sunday before entering Mangusu on Monday.

“There, the corpses of some 17 victims, some tied, some with their throats slashed and others killed by bullets were discovered,” he said, noting that he has not been to the scene and that fighting between the FARDC and the ADF continued until Monday afternoon.

The attacked villages are situated 10 kilometres to the scene where 14 civilians were killed in their farms last Thursday and Friday April 7 and 8, 2022 by suspected ADF rebels in the neighbouring chiefdom of Walese Vonkutu.

Irumu territory, in the south of Ituri province, is situated at the border with North Kivu province.

The DR Congo Prime Minister, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, on Monday April 11, arrived Goma at the head of a delegation of several ministers on a mission to the Ituri and North Kivu province to take stock of the state of siege in force in the provinces since May 6, 2021.