Rebel attacks on a village in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have left at least 22 civilians dead, local officials say.
The attack which is believed to have been perpetrated by the Ugandan rebel group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) occurred in Mwenda village in Beni territory. This is in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Donat Kibwana, the administrator of the Beni territory, told Anadolu Agency, “ADF rebels attacked the village of Mwenda on Monday around 1900 GMT, killing 22 civilians with machetes.” He added that the death toll is provisional.
Fulbert Kasairo, a local official, told Anadolu Agency that the attackers also kidnapped a dozen other villagers in order to transport stolen goods to other localities.
“Our region is a powder keg, a cemetery. We live in a dying house while the authorities are disinterested,” Kasairo said indignantly.
Originating in Uganda’s northeast in the 1990s, the ADF rebels have been attacking and killing civilians, as well as United Nations personnel in eastern DRC for years.
On Monday, authorities said 21 bodies which were “in a state of decomposition” had been discovered in Loselose and Loulo communities, in the same region after a passage of the rebels.
The rebels are known to have a certain mode of operation: peasants are killed with knives, generally in the evening in the bush, returning from the fields or at nightfall in the village.
According to the United Nations, the illicit exploitation of natural resources continues to be a root cause and driver of conflict in the eastern part of the Central African Country.
Most of the militia groups in the eastern part of the DRC have set aside their political demands and are now involved in the illicit trafficking of mineral.