ADF rebels continue attacks in North Kivu and Ituri

A funeral convoy crosses the road from Beni, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, here May 23, 2021. © Alexis Huguet, AFP

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In eastern DRC, while attention is focused on the M23, other groups also kill, rape and loot. This is the case with the ADF. This group of Ugandan origin, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, is mourning the populations of North Kivu and Ituri. Since March 6, ADF attacks have killed at least 118 civilians, according to UN figures.

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With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi

It is always the same modus operandi: ADF rebels attack, kill, loot villages, burn houses and withdraw with hostages.

The violence in recent weeks has mainly been concentrated about twenty km south of the city of Beni, in North Kivu province. An area supposed to be protected by the Congolese army and MONUSCO troops.

Since this upsurge in violence, part of civil society has been calling for the intervention of troops of the coalition of Congolese and Ugandan armies (FARDC-UPDF), usually deployed further east. This coalition is considered more equipped and effective than Congolese army troops and peacekeepers.

All this in a context marked by the hostility of part of the population against UN troops, which does not always allow them to deploy easily.

An evaluation of joint FARDC-UPDF operations is envisaged for early April. Among the problems that will be examined: the coordination between FARDC and UPDF, and between this coalition and MONUSCO, but also the management of the Congolese army's manpower spread over several fronts and in several provinces.

■ Foundations to appease South Kivu

With our correspondent in Bukavu, William Basimike

Several hundred representatives of different communities have been meeting since Tuesday in Bukavu around a round table on peace and development in South Kivu province. The four-day meeting aims to bridge differences and find solutions for lasting peace in this region, which is often plagued by inter-communal conflicts. They are organized by the League of Leaders for Peace and Development (a civil society structure), in collaboration with the Civil House of President Felix Tshisekedi. South Kivu has inter-communal armed conflicts but not an openly declared war as is the case in North Kivu.

At the heart of the discussions, governance, security and social cohesion, the management of lands and mineral resources, often at the origin of socio-economic and political conflicts in this province. Joseph Nkinzo coordinates the League of Leaders for Peace and Development, he explains the particularity of this round table compared to others already organized:

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Its particularity is the involvement of the Republic at the top. There have been many conferences and peace forums, but we did not feel the involvement of the Head of State personally, and the institutions of the Republic. All bodies are involved, and the Head of State expects from these meetings a republican pact with a development agenda for the province of South Kivu for this decade 2023-2033".

A matter of will

This round table also analyses South Kivu's geostrategic and diplomatic relations in the Great Lakes region, and other socio-cultural issues. A member of the Banyamulenge community and a civil society actor, Tharcisse Kahayira remains optimistic: "Every peace initiative is to be commended, and it is always important to be optimistic. Now it's up to everyone to make an effort. We need to be involved in change.

The first vice-president of the defence and security committee of the National Assembly, Professor Jacques Djoli, urges a dose of goodwill for South Kivu to be part of the logic of the government's development program for its 145 territories: "We have everything to make South Kivu, not the epicenter of conflicts or the world capital of rape but to make South Kivu the epicenter of development because its development will ignite that of the Maniema, from North Kivu... So it's all about vision, it's all about will.

The participants took the opportunity to condemn the war in neighbouring North Kivu and encourage all efforts to restore peace there.

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