DRC (Beni) : a new ADF rebel incursion kills ten people in the Banande-Kainama groupment

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels made a new deadly attack on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday in the Vido village in the Banande-Kainama groupment, Beni-Mbau sector in the Beni territory in North Kivu, in the east of the DRC. 11 civilians have been savagely killed with knives, the local civil society says. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

In addition to people killed, civil society also reports about twenty houses burnt down by the ADF militiamen.

Jonas Zawadi, president of the local civil society, points out that residents are emptying the attacked village into areas deemed more secure to take shelter from danger.

“The rebels emerged in this village around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The residents fled in all directions fearing for their safety. For the moment the toll is 11 civilians killed,” he told colleagues of Radio Moto Oicha.

Civil society reports that the search continues in the area in order to find the survivors or the bodies of other people killed during this attack.

On the other hand, in the Batangi-Mbau groupment, still in the Beni-Mbau sector, the toll of the incursion of ADF fighters into the village of Kota Okola last Monday has increased. Civil society sources speak of 20 dead. Initially, local authorities and residents had reported a death toll of 14 people.

The civil society of the village of Mamove indicated that 6 bodies were discovered this Tuesday towards the villages of Tapi-Rouge and Mambume.

People from the region are indignant at this renewed insecurity in the territory of Beni and denounce “the lethargy of the military authorities in considering the alerts of the population”.

For his part, Alain Siwako, provincial lawmaker elected for the territory of Beni, indicates that in September alone, 216 people were murdered in various rebel attacks in the territories of Beni in North Kivu, Mambasa and Irumu in Ituri.

He regrets that the ADF militiamen go from village to another to commit crimes without being worried by the security services.

“Several villages continue to be emptied of their inhabitants following the insecurity which continues to increase while the two provinces are in a state of siege decreed by the Congolese head of state with the objective of ending the local or foreign armed groups since May 2020”, expressed the elected official with indignation.