News coming in is that fighters suspected to be belonging to the notorious, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have carried out raids on two villages in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo killing 13 people in the process according to local officials and the army.
The suspected attack by the ADF is the latest since the Congolese Army launched a large-scale operation against the militant group about a year ago Since the start of 2020, intensified ADF attacks have killed at least 256 civilians (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_Democratic_Forces ) with the United Nations saying these assaults may result into crimes against humanity.
According to Chui Mukalangirwa a local village chief, while speaking to Reuters News Agency, the rebels, in the suspected latest attack on Friday afternoon tied up the victims in the villages of Kinziki-Matiba and Wikeno, about 10km east of the City of Oicha before killing them. The villagers were attacked while they worked in the fields in the Beni region which have made the army look at deploying more units in the area according to the spokesperson Antony Mwalishayi who while speaking to the press, confirmed that the army helped civilians bury the bodies of the deceased.
Formed in 1986 by fighters based in Western Uganda, the ADF, considered a terrorist organisation by Kampala, expanded into the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. It has been active along the border and has usually claimed responsibility for raids that have taken lives of civilians in the region in recent times. Their raids have forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes with majority of them seeking refuge in Uganda.
