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DR Congo President Promises To Punish Gold Mining Site Attackers

The Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO) rebels have stepped up their attacks on civilians with the latest being an attack on a gold mining site but President Felix Tshisekedi has vowed to end rebel activities in the country.

President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo has vowed to “eradicate insurrection movements throughout the country”, following a rebel attack on a gold mining site on Sunday, May 8. 

Rebels of the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO) attacked and killed 35 persons at a gold mining site in Djugu territory.

The President in a statement sent from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, condemned the attack and the killing of Congolese citizens. 

“From Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, the head of state, Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo has learnt of the tragic deaths of 35 Congolese citizens in Djugu territory in the Ituri province assassinated by CODECO militia,” presidential statement declared.


According to the same statement, “President Tshisekedi has condemned with firmness, this odious and repugnant crime and reiterated his engagement to eradicate all insurrection movements on Congolese soil”. 

Jean-Pierre Bikilisende, the mayor of the Mungwalu Rural Council in Djugu territory, had Sunday announced that “The CODECO rebels have killed civilians in the Camp Blanquette gold mine. 

The Mayor disclosed there were 29 corpses brought from the site to Pluto.  

Meanwhile, the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) has announced that eight persons who were wounded during the May 8, attack by CODECO rebels have been to Bunia, the Ituri provincial capital for appropriate medical attention.

“There were 19 seriously wounded persons during the attack including women and children. Seeing their state, we made an appeal to MONUSCO which has transported eight wounded to Bunia by helicopter for them to receive medical attention because the state of the road is very risky due to insecurity,” the  mayor revealed, adding that four of the 19 persons taken to Bunia have already died.

“There are four of the seriously wounded who have died from their wounds but youths are ready to enter the bushes in search of other corpses but they are afraid because militia are still roaming the area around the village where the attack took place.”


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Chief Bisong Etahoben

Chief Bisong Etahoben is a Cameroonian investigative journalist and traditional ruler. He writes for international media and has participated in several transnational investigations. Etahoben won the first-ever Cameroon Investigative Journalist Award in 1992. He serves as a member of a number of international investigative journalism professional bodies including the Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR). He is HumAngle's Francophone and Central Africa editor.

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