By Jacob Kubeka –
New tragedy in the volatile east of the DR Congo has seen dozens slaughtered in recent days, many with their throats slit or burned alive, despite a state of siege aimed at reining in roaming militia groups.
On Monday, the death toll following a brutal attack blamed on the ADF rebel group in the North Kivu city of Beni grew to 38.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) are the deadliest of a slew of armed organizations in the country’s east, and the US has officially connected them to the so-called Islamic State (IS).
A Red Cross official said bodies were found tied up, with their throats slit by machetes.
A respected monitor, known as the Kivu Security Tracker (KST), said the attack was the deadliest since a bloodbath in neighbouring Ituri province left 57 dead.
Elsewhere in the east of the vast central African country, a region rich in minerals and teeming with armed groups, assailants killed at least 17 civilians in Ituri province on Monday, local sources and KST said.
That attack was gruesome as well, with fighters of the Patriotic and Integrationist Force of Congo (FPIC) leaving some victims to be burnt alive in their homes.
The attack occurred in the village of Chabusiku, which is just 12 kilometres from Bunia, the provincial capital.
KST said the new massacre brought “to at least 1,137 the number of civilians killed in North Kivu and Ituri since the start of the state of siege.”
The measure took effect on May 6 to support a military offensive aimed at neutralising armed groups who target civilians as well as army positions.
President Felix Tshisekedi decreed the measure, under which soldiers and police officers have replaced civilian authorities in the two provinces.
AFP