Democratic Republic of the Congo

More than 1,200 civilians have been killed in the restive DR Congo provinces of Ituri and North Kivu so far this year and millions of people now need humanitarian aid in the eastern region, the UN refugee agency said Friday. Democratic Republic of Congo authorities declared a state of siege in May, an exceptional measure aimed at ending the reign of terror by armed groups operating in the region, most notably the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group linked to ISIS.

At least 30 people were killed in a weekend attack in the restive northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, local and UN sources said on Monday. The jihadists of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) are suspected to have carried out the attack in the Ituri area on Saturday, they said. … ADF jihadists have killed over 850 civilians in 2020 alone.

Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi on Sunday authorized U.S. special forces to help the Congolese army fight the Allied Democratic Forces, an armed group linked to the Islamic State. … The mission will last several weeks and is specifically directed against the ADF.

Rival armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are carrying out horrific sexual attacks against women and girls, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Friday.

The U.N. refugee agency says a series of attacks by armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has forced nearly 20,000 civilians to flee for their lives. More than 100 armed groups, such as the Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces, have been terrorizing communities in the eastern DRC for decades. 

A new government action plan in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has the potential to reverse the urgent and tragic deterioration in the east of the country, where thousands of human rights abuses are being committed against civilians by armed militants, the senior UN official in the country told the Security Council on Wednesday. Bintou Keita, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Stabilization Mission in the DRC, said fresh strides towards peace and stability are prerequisites for the mission, known as MONUSCO, to responsibly withdraw, in line with its planned drawdown. 

The ADF is “notorious in this region for its brutal violence against Congolese citizens and regional military forces, with attacks killing over 849 civilians in 2020 alone” according to UN figures.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to investigate recent deadly attacks by insurgents in the east and bring the perpetrators to account. At least 55 people were killed, and many others wounded, in the overnight assaults on Monday, which targeted camps hosting internally displaced people near the towns of Boga in Irumu territory, Ituri province, and Tchabi, North Kivu province. 

Thirteen people in the eastern DR Congo have been killed in a suspected attack by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia that the US says is linked to the Islamic State group, local officials said Wednesday.

Thirty people were sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after a one-day trial for their role in anti-police violence marking the end of Ramadan in the capital.