Over 30 Killed In New ADF Attack In Congo, UN Reports

The United Nations said on Thursday that more than 30 people had been killed in new killings attributed to the ADF, a rebel group affiliated with the Islamic State group, in Ituri in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo on April 2 and 3.

The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, had put the number of civilians murdered between December 1 and March 14 in this region afflicted by violence from numerous armed groups, including the ADF (Allied Democratic Force), at 485 in his most recent quarterly report, released on 27 March.

It was then concerned by a "sharp rise" in violence in the DRC's eastern regions.

The UN mission in the DRC (Monusco) said in a statement published Thursday evening that it had received allegations of fatalities attributed to the ADF "on 2 and 3 April at the border between the territory of Mambasa and Irumu."

Bintou Keita, the head of Monusco, "condemns in the strongest terms" these latest atrocities and "deplores these despicable attacks against the civilian population," according to a statement. "She calls on Congolese authorities to investigate and bring those responsible for these summary executions to justice."

Keita urges for "an immediate cessation of violence against civilians by all armed groups" and "reiterates the Secretary-General's call on foreign armed groups to lay down their arms unconditionally and return to their countries of origin."

The ADF are originally Muslim Ugandan rebels that have been active in eastern DRC since the mid-1990s, where they are accused of massacring hundreds of people.

They pledged allegiance in 2019 to the Islamic State group, which portrays them as its branch in Central Africa.