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Congo Attack
Attacks by an Islamic State-backed rebels killed at least 52 people between Aug. 9 and 16, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo said Monday. The UN mission, known as MONUSCO, said in a statement that the attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) took place in several localities of Beni and Lubero territories, in the North Kivu province. The violence was accompanied by abductions, looting, the burning of homes, vehicles, and motorcycles, as well as the destruction of property belonging to populations already facing dire humanitarian conditions, the statement read, adding that the death toll is likely to rise. Eastern Congo has suffered deadly attacks in recent years by armed groups, including the ADF and Rwanda-backed rebels. The ADF, which has ties to the Islamic State, operates along the border with Uganda and often targets civilians. The group killed nearly 40 people in the Ituri province last month, when it stormed a Catholic church during a vigil and opened fire
Rebels affiliated with the Islamic State group killed 66 people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials said Saturday. Fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which has ties to IS, killed civilians in the area of Irumu in the east of the country bordering Uganda. The attack comes as eastern Congo may see an end to its ongoing war with M23, a separate rebel group which is backed by Rwanda, another of Congo's neighbors. Jean Tobie Okala, the spokesperson for the United Nations mission in Ituri in eastern Congo, called the attack a bloodbath." Around 30 civilians were killed between Thursday and Friday, July 11, in the Walese Vonkutu chiefdom, Irumu territory, in Ituri, said Okala in a statement to the Associated Press. "Based on information from civil society, the death toll has risen from 31 to 66 civilians killed. The ADF is a Ugandan Islamist group that operates on both sides of the porous border. All the victims, including women, were killed with mache
Rwanda-backed rebels in eastern Congo on Friday entered the region's second-largest city of Bukavu, local and civil society leaders said, the latest ground gained since a major escalation of their yearslong fighting with government forces. The M23 rebels entered the city's Kazingu and Bagira zone and were advancing towards the centre of the city of about 1.3 million people, according to Jean Samy, vice-president of the civil society in South Kivu. He reported gunfire in parts of the city. Videos posted online appeared to show rebels marching toward the Bagira area. In one of the videos, a voice in the background shouted: They are there ... there are many of them." Rwanda-backed rebels in eastern Congo claimed Friday to have seized a second airport in the region following a days-long advance, as the UN warned that the recent escalation of fighting with government forces has left 350,000 internally displaced people without shelter. Local sources said M23 rebels have surrounded the ar
At least 773 people were killed in eastern Congo's largest city of Goma and its vicinity this week amid fighting with Rwanda-backed rebels who captured the city in a major escalation of a decadelong conflict, Congolese authorities said Saturday. The rebels' advance into other areas was slowed by a weakened military that recovered some villages from them. Authorities confirmed 773 bodies and 2,880 injured persons in Goma's morgues and hospitals, Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya told a briefing in the capital, Kinshasa, adding that the death toll could be higher. These figures remain provisional because the rebels asked the population to clean the streets of Goma. There should be mass graves and the Rwandans took care to evacuate theirs, said Muyaya. Hundreds of Goma residents were returning to the city on Saturday after the rebels promised to restore basic services including water and power supply. They cleaned up the neighborhoods littered with debris from weapons and .
After Rwanda-backed M23 rebels took control of the biggest city in eastern Congo this week, the man who emerged from the shadows to assert his leadership was not the group's long-time military leader. Sultani Makenga, an ethnic Tutsi rebel leader sanctioned by both the US and the UN, was nowhere to be seen in Goma's Serena Hotel as the bearded Corneille Nangaa, in military fatigues, was ushered into the hall. Nangaa, who is not a Tutsi and who analysts say brings a more diverse, Congolese face to the group, told reporters of his plan to fight all the way to Kinshasa, the national capital a thousand miles away. The spectacle was significant because it captures the evolution of M23 from an ethnic Tutsi-dominated outfit more than a decade ago to one that's now actively seeking to be seen as a Congolese nationalist group. That's the case despite the military support it gets from neighbouring Rwanda, according to observers and analysts in Africa's Great Lakes region. From election chief
Rwanda-backed rebels claimed they captured eastern Congo's largest city, Goma, early Monday, as the United Nations described a mass panic among its 2 million people and Congo's government said the rebel advance was a declaration of war." The M23 rebels announced the city's capture in a statement minutes before a 48-hour deadline expired that had been imposed by the group for the Congolese army to surrender their weapons. Early Monday morning, gunfire was heard throughout the city, according to two aid workers sheltering there who were not authorized to speak to the media. In a statement, the rebels urged residents of Goma to remain calm and for members of the Congolese military to assemble at the central stadium. The M23 rebels' offensive in the heart of the mineral-rich region threatens to dramatically worsen one of Africa's longest wars and further displace civilians. According to a United Nations report, over a third of the population of North Kivu province where Goma is located
At least 70 people, including nine soldiers and a soldier's wife, were killed when armed men attacked a village in western Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities said, as violence intensifies between two rival communities. The attack took place on Saturday in the village of Kinsele, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Kinshasa, the capital. Because of insecurity and poor infrastructure in the region, deadly attacks can take days to be reported. Kinsele is located in the Kwamouth territory, where for the past two years conflict has raged between two local communities Teke and Yaka leading to deaths of hundreds of civilians. As Congo battles armed groups in the east, violence has also intensified in the western part of the country. The attackers were members of the Mobondo militia, an armed group presenting itself as defenders of the Yaka people. As of this morning (Monday, July 15), 72 bodies have already been found and the search continues to find other bodies in t
Authorities in Rwanda on Monday rejected US calls for the withdrawal of troops and missile systems from eastern Congo, saying they are defending Rwandan territory as Congo carries out a "dramatic military build-up near the border. Rwanda's Foreign Ministry in a statement spoke of threats to Rwandan national security stemming from the presence in Congo of an armed group whose members include alleged perpetrators of the 1994 genocide. The rebel group, known by its initials FDLR, is fully integrated into" the Congolese army, the statement said. Although Rwanda has long cited a threat posed by FLDR, authorities there had never admitted to a military presence in eastern Congo, whose authorities accuse the tiny central African country of actively supporting the violent armed group known as M23. The US State Department in a statement Saturday criticised the worsening violence caused by M23, describing it as a Rwanda-backed armed group. That statement also urged Rwanda to immediately withd