Volkswacht Bodensee - Militia kill at least 69 in NE DR Congo: local, security sources

It was just the latest in a series of attacks in Ituri, a gold-rich province that borders Uganda which has suffered years of deadly conflict.

Armed men affiliated with the Codeco militia (Cooperative for the Development of Congo) carried out the attack at the end of April, said the sources.

The lack of security in the zone because of the continued presence of Codeco fighters delayed the recovery of the bodies for several days, they added.

Security sources put the toll at 69 dead but a local civil protection official, Dieudonne Losa, told AFP that more than 70 people had been killed.

The Codeco militia claims to defend the rights of the mainly farming Lendu community, notably against the mainly pastoral Hema community.

Another armed group active in the province, the Convention for the Popular Revolution (CRP), says it fights for the Hema community.

They are just two of several armed groups active in the area, which also include the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group formed by former Ugandan rebels that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS).

Local and security sources on Thursday said ADF fighters killed at least 36 people in two days of attacks in Ituri and North Kivu.

Since 2021, the Ugandan army has, alongside the Congolese military, been deployed in the northern part of North Kivu and in Ituri to fight the ADF.

The Congolese army sometimes uses Codeco as an auxiliary force.

Earlier on Saturday, the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo warned of a "deadly" wave of attacks in the country's restive east targeting civilians.

"Dozens of civilians have been killed in recent days" in areas in the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, MONUSCO said, without elaborating.

The mineral-rich eastern DRC has been plagued for three decades by conflict involving various armed groups, militia and army troops.

L.Stucki--VB