NEWS- The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, a group believed to be linked to Islamic State have killed at least 21 people in the conflict-riven Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The attacks all took place close to Manguredjipa, a town known for its rich mineral deposits and regularly targeted by the Allied Democratic Forces.
According to local authorities, the ADF rebels made an incursion into the village of Robinet, in the Bapere sector of North Kivu province on December 21st 2024 where they killed six people on the spot and on December 22nd they arrived at the neighboring village called Kodjo where they killed 12 people.
A representative for the Bapere sector’s governor, Macaire Sivikunula, told our reporter that the worst came on Christmas Day when the ADF fighters arrived from Manguredjipa in the village called Makele and killed three people in broad day
The Allied Democratic Forces, who are originally from Uganda have been present since the mid-1990s in the Democratic Republic of Congo restive northeast, where its fighters have killed thousands of civilians and in 2019, they pledged allegiance to Islamic State which touts themselves as its Islamic State Central Africa Province and claims responsibility for some of the rebel group’s attacks.
At the end of 2021, Uganda Government and the Democratuc Republic of Congo launched a joint military operation against the ADF and the offensive has so far proven unsuccessful in putting an end to the rebel attacks.
Both armies have pushed the rebels back into remote and inaccessible areas, where local civilians are often at their mercy.
Sivikunula said the Ugandan and Congolese armies were present and at work in Manguredjipa, but as the rebels are scattered in small groups of dispersed fighters, it’s really difficult to pinpoint their location.
Thee North Kivu Province also faces a separate rebel insurgency further south, with the Rwanda-backed M23 movement and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s army are locked in fighting all week following the failure of a peace summit in mid-December.
The Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been plagued by infighting between various armed groups for decades largely focused on the control of the minerals and timber found in the area.
