Maï-Ndombe (DRC) : at least 42 militiamen and 9 soldiers dead in clashes between the FARDC and “Mobondo” militiamen in Kinsele

On Saturday, violent fighting broke out between the Congolese army and a militia called “Mobondo”. It is in the territory of Kinsele in the province of Maï-Ndombe, nearly 130 km northeast of Kinshasa, the political capital of the DRC. The advanced death toll is 42 attackers and 9 FARDC soldiers killed.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The fighting broke out around 5 a.m., according to local sources.

“We were woken up by heavy, deafening explosions. It was truly terrifying. For several hours, we remained cloistered in our homes,” said residents who spoke to SOS Médias Burundi.

David Bisaka, MP elected in the province of Maï-Ndombe, puts forward a death toll of 42 Mobondo militiamen, 9 FARDC soldiers and one woman killed.

Some testimonies accuse the “Mobondo” of having attacked a FARDC post in Kinsele, while others indicate that soldiers had launched a search operation in response to incursions by militiamen in the region.

A state agent stationed in Kinsele said on condition of anonymity that the “Mobondo” attacked armed forces at 5 a.m. on Saturday. He puts forward a particularly heavy toll of 70 deaths.

In 2022, intercommunity tensions between the Teke, who consider themselves owners of the villages along the Congo River, and the Yaka, who would have migrated there later, degenerated into bloody clashes. The “Mobondo”, members of the Yaka community, are accused of being actively involved in this violence, having caused hundreds of deaths on each side.

And since mid-2023, journalists have been prohibited from investigating this conflict, authorities having prevented several press teams, including that of AFP, from entering the province of Maï-Ndombe.

In December 2023, UN experts reported that more than 1,000 armed men from the region, including “Mobondo”, were enlisted to fight the M23 in North Kivu.

In 2023, Human Rights Watch deplored that the lack of accountability for perpetrators of crimes reinforces distrust between communities and leads to new atrocities.

The Congolese army has not yet commented on the security situation of last Saturday in Maï-Ndombe.

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Men carry the body of a victim of attacks by armed men in the east of the DRC, March 2023 (SOS Médias Burundi)