DR Congo rebels kill at least 21 in during Christmas week

ADF rebels linked to the Islamic State group killed at least 21 people this week in conflict-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local sources told AFP on Saturday.

All the attacks took place near Manguredjipa, a town known for its rich mineral deposits and regular attack by the ADF.

On December 21, ADF rebels raided the village of Robinet, in the Bapere sector of North Kivu province, a local official said.

“They killed six people on the spot and then on December 22 they arrived in a neighboring village we call Kodjo where they killed 12 people,” Macaire Sivikunula, representative of the Bapere sector governor, told AFP.

Then, on Christmas Day, ADF fighters “arrived seven kilometers from Manguredjipa in the village of Makele and killed three people,” Sivikunula added.

Multiple separate local sources confirmed to AFP the dates, locations and victims of these attacks.

Originally from Uganda, the ADF or Allied Democratic Forces have been present since the mid-1990s in the restive northeast of the DRC, where their fighters have killed thousands of civilians.

In 2019, the ADF pledged allegiance to IS.

IS touts them as its central African province of the Islamic State and claims responsibility for some of the rebel group’s attacks.

In late 2021, Uganda and the DRC launched a joint military operation against the ADF.

That offensive has so far proved unsuccessful in halting insurgent attacks.

Both armies have pushed the insurgents back into remote and inaccessible areas, where local civilians are often at their mercy.

Sivikunula said the Ugandan and Congolese armies are present and working in Manguredjipa.

“But since the insurgents are scattered in small groups of scattered fighters, it is really difficult to pinpoint their location,” he added.

North Kivu province is also facing a separate rebel insurgency further south, with the Rwandan-backed M23 movement and the DRC’s army fighting all week after the failure of a peace summit in mid-December.

Home to vast mineral wealth, the eastern part of the DRC has been plagued by internal conflicts between various armed groups for decades.