About fifteen civilians have been killed since Thursday, December 23 in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in attacks against the army.

Some 38 people died on the rebel side, according to military and local sources. 

"Three civilians were killed" on Saturday in the attack by the ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) in Njiapanda ", a village in Mambasa territory in Ituri province, said Janvier Musoki Kinyongo, head of the groupement. from Mambembe.

"My group is emptied of its inhabitants, the ADF rebels roam the region (...) Two days before (Thursday), we buried nine people still massacred by these ADF rebels", he added.

In another area, army spokesman Jules Ngongo said Congolese soldiers killed seven ADFs and captured another in a counter-offensive on Route Nationale 4, about 90 km south of Bunia, provincial capital.

Codeco attacks

In addition to the ADF, the security forces have been fighting since the end of 2017 a brutal militia in this province of Ituri, the Codeco (cooperative for the development of the Congo).

The army said it carried out "operations with helicopters" in the Codeco stronghold in Djugu territory in the north.

The balance sheet is "31 elements of the Codeco militia neutralized and several wounded in the enemy camp," said Lieutenant Jules Ngongo.

Formed on a community basis, the Codecos claim to defend the interests of the Lendu, one of the communities of Ituri against members of the rival community, Hema.

In addition, in the town of Bunia, "three people were killed in a robbery" of a mobile money transfer agency led by "armed bandits" on Friday, AFP learned from Gérard Abeli ​​Mwangu. , urban police commander.

Further south, in the Rwenzori sector in the neighboring province of North Kivu, an attack attributed to the ADF left "two dead, four houses burned", according to Joël Lewis, head of local civil society.

The provinces of North Kivu and Ituri have been under siege since May without putting an end to the violence. 

On Christmas Eve in Beni, a suicide bomber set off his bomb in a restaurant and killed seven people.

Since November 30, the Congolese and Ugandan armies have been carrying out joint operations against the ADF, the deadliest of the hundred or so armed groups listed in the region. 

With AFP

The summary of the week

France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR