Suspected militants kill 22 in eastern Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo Defense Forces gather in the village of Mukondi, North Kivu, March 9, 2023. PHOTO AP BENI, Democratic Republic of Congo - Suspected militants killed 22 people in a string of attacks across the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern Ituri and North Kivu provinces overnight, officials and activists said on Sunday.

The violence has plagued eastern Congo for years despite increasing interventions from the country's army and UN peacekeepers.

At least 12 people were killed Saturday in simultaneous raids across several villages in Ituri province. Local officials and civil society leaders blamed the CODECO group, one of several militias that have destabilized the densely forested region.

There are many appeals for peaceful cohabitation. Colonel Jacques Disanoa, who administers the Mahagi territory where some of the villages are located, tells Reuters by telephone that the CODECO militia continues to massacre the vulnerable, Colonel Jacques Disanoa.

Militants killed another 10 people and abducted three more later that night in the village of Nguli, at the base of North Kivu's Mount Kyavirimu, according to Colonel Alain Kiwewa, the administrator of surrounding Lubero territory.

Kiwewa blamed the attack on the Allied Democratic Forces ADF, a Ugandan armed group based in eastern Congo, that pledged allegiance to Islamic State and took positions in nearby Virunga National Park.

Kiwea said that it was a really sad situation. They killed them with a machete and other weapons. In 2021, the Congo's government declared a state of siege in North Kivu and Ituri in order to stem rampant militia violence in the country's vast mineral-rich east. The killings and rebel activity have not shown signs of abating.

Delphine Malekani, activist in North Kivu, said that even when we are under siege, the enemy still surprises us every day.