31 Killed in Rebel Attacks in Congo
At least 31 people have been killed in rebel attacks in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the local authorities confirmed to EFE.
Freddy Mbindjo Panda, administrative head of the two towns attacked by the rebels said that of the 31, only five bodies were shot to death, the others had their throats cut.
The attack was deemed to be an act of apparent reprisal against the Ituri Popular Self-Defense Front (FPAC-Zaire) militia by Jean Jacques Openji, coordinator of the organization “Allez-y les FARDC” ( “Come on, FARDC”). The militia had been absent from the East African Community peace talks that the Congolese government and some sixty armed groups held in Nairobi.
Since 1998, the eastern DRC has been mired in a conflict fueled by rebel militias and the Army notwithstanding the presence of the United Nations mission in the country.
There has been a longstanding dispute between the Lendu and Hema communities which caused thousands of deaths between 1999 and 2003. The Congolese government imposed a state of siege in both provinces in 2021 in response to rebel attacks, however it has not been able to put an end to the problem.
