Soldiers conduct a rapid deployment exercise on the outskirts of Mutwanga, which has been repeatedly attacked by the armed group Allied Democratic Forces. (Alexis Huguet/AFP)
About 80 civilians have been killed by suspected ADF rebels in the DRC’s North Kivu in the course of a month.Politicians urged the government to make security a priority.North Kivu is also the province where M23 rebels are fighting South African soldiers.Attacks attributed to Uganda’s Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) claimed another 41 lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) North Kivu, taking the total to around 80 civilians in the space of a month.The latest attacks came in the Masala, Mapasana and Mahini villages, near Beni town, after suspected ADF attackers killed more than 30 people in the villages of Manlese, Mununze, Kabweke and Masau in May.The DRC’s Ministry of Communication and Media vowed the country’s military would not rest until it tracked down the attackers, and said it had already rescued hostages taken during the attack.But the government faced heavy criticism as the security situation in the region seemed to deteriorate further.READ | Rebels pledged to Islamic State kill eight in attack on DR Congo health centreThe senator for North Kivu, Papy Machozi, said in a statement that the DRC government should make security a short-term priority.”It is time to intensify military operations in the areas most vulnerable to the activism of criminal groups in the east of the country, to definitively resolve this suffering of innocent populations which has lasted too long,” he said.Opposition leader Martin Fayulu, of the Engagement for Citizenship and Development Party, said the government was distracted.He said:Congolese citizens endure widespread violence in the country every day, while in Kinshasa we get lost in trivialities.North Kivu is also the battleground where M23 rebels are fighting the SADC Mission in the DRC, led by South Africa.Millions of people fled their homes in North Kivu during decades of violence between a large number of armed factions fighting for the region’s mineral wealth.ADF is considered a terrorist organisation in both Uganda and the DRC.While it began in western Uganda, it has since spread to the DRC. Muslims from the Baganda and Basoga ethnic groupings make up the majority of the ADF fighters.The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
