AFRICA/DR CONGO - A bloody week in North-Kivu: 49 people massacred by terrorists

Tuesday, 26 May 2020 massacres   jihadists   civil society  

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - "Last weekend turned out to be one of the deadliest: it started with 7 dead, ended with 25 victims", says a statement sent to Agenzia Fides on the situation in the Beni and Irumu territories in North Kivu and in Ituri, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where armed groups have raged for years and in particular the jihadists of the ADF (a group of Ugandan origin who has settled in Congolese territory for some time).
According to information gathered by CEPADHO (Center for Studies on Peace, Democracy and Human Rights), a local organization for the defense of human rights, in the early hours of Sunday 24 May, Islamist terrorists hit Ruwenzori and Beni-Mbau. In the first area 7 civilians, including 3 women, were savagely killed.
Subsequently in Lose-Lose, the jihadists kidnapped 45 civilians, looted 15 shops and 3 pharmacies, set fire to 6 houses and looted a nursing home for the Protestant community. Among the people killed in the attack in this area is Mrs. Paluku Mumethya, animator of the local Catholic Church. "At the moment - says CEPADHO - we do not know the fate of 45 kidnapped civilians".
Other areas were attacked on Sunday May 24, with a total death toll of 25 civilians. Counting these victims, 49 civilians were massacred in a week, from Monday 18 to Sunday 24 May.
With the latest attacks, 587 civilians were massacred by the ADF in retaliation for the large-scale offensive launched against them by the Congolese army starting since October 30, 2019.
CEPADHO asks the President of the Republic to review military operations conducted in the area in order to protect local populations from ADF reprisals. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 26/5/2020)


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