Afrigather Kinshasa — Not less than 41 individuals had been killed, in response to official data from the Congolese authorities as we speak, June 10, in a sequence of assaults carried out by ADF militias on June 7 within the Beni area of North Kivu, within the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In response to the Kinshasa authorities, 39 individuals had been killed within the villages of Masala and Mahibi and two individuals in Keme. 9 others had been injured. The “Allied Democratic Forces” (ADF) are a bunch initially from Uganda that has established itself for many years within the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly in North Kivu. In 2019, the ADF militia joined the Islamic State (see Fides, 24/6/2023), which highlighted its “jihadist” profile.
The latest massacres (beforehand one other 15 individuals had been killed on June 4 in Masau, on the border between the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, whereas different mass killings occurred in April and Might) appear, paradoxically, to be the results of “Operation Shujaa”, carried out collectively by the Congolese and Ugandan armies to combat ADF jihadists.
The operation, launched in September 2021, nevertheless, led ADF members to maneuver west to flee the Congolese and Ugandan troops and make their option to Mangina and the Mambasa territory in Ituri. In these areas, the ADF goals to loot native sources comparable to cocoa and exploit native micromines with a purpose to regroup and proceed its lethal actions.
