Islamic State-affiliated insurgents have reportedly taken the lives of 89 civilians in a series of assaults in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Lubero territory. The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the nation, MONUSCO, disclosed this information on Friday. The attacks, attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), occurred in various localities of North Kivu province between November 13 and November 19. Among the victims were 20 women and an unspecified number of children, as confirmed by MONUSCO in an official statement.
One particularly brutal incident involved the rebels attacking a health facility managed by the Catholic Church in Byambwe. During this assault, at least 17 individuals lost their lives, including women seeking maternity care, while four patient wards were set ablaze by the attackers. Additionally, the rebels were reported to have engaged in other criminal activities such as abductions and the plundering of medical resources.
In response to these atrocities, MONUSCO has called upon the Congolese authorities to promptly launch thorough and credible investigations to identify the culprits and their associates involved in these massacres. The aim is to ensure that justice is served for the victims. Local officials had previously informed Reuters about a similar incident in which suspected ADF rebels killed 19 civilians in an overnight raid in the village of Mukondo in North Kivu province.
The ADF, initially established as a rebel faction in Uganda, has been operating from the forests of Congo since the late 1990s and is acknowledged by Islamic State as a linked group. Despite efforts by the Congolese army and Ugandan forces to combat the ADF, the group’s violent activities persist. In other parts of North Kivu province, the M23 rebels, backed by Rwanda, hold control following a rapid advancement this year. International mediators, including the United States and Qatar, are actively engaged in peace negotiations to resolve the conflict, with hopes of fostering Western investments in the region’s lucrative mining sector.