ADF rebels attack health centre in eastern DR Congo, kill 8 civilians – reports

At least eight civilians died on Thursday, May 9, in an attack on a health center in eastern DR Congo’s North Kivu Province, according to media reports that cited locals, The EastAfrican reports.

Locals said the attack was carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces militia (ADF) which pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group in 2019.

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« For now, we have a toll of eight dead, including the sick and the accountant at the health center, » Beni territory civil society leader Omar Kalisia told reporters.

One nurse was missing, and a house was set on fire, Kalisia said.

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In late 2021, the DR Congo and neighboring Uganda launched a joint military operation against the ADF.

In mid-April, between 10 and 15 civilians were reported killed in weekend attacks in DR Congo’s Beni region, in attacks blamed on ADF. Last October, at least 20 civilians were killed in the east of the vast lawless country in another among many other attacks attributed to the Islamic State-affiliated Ugandan group. The ADF, originally mainly Muslim Ugandan militia, have established a presence over three decades in eastern DR Congo, killing thousands of civilians.

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The ADF which began as an uprising in Uganda has been based in volatile eastern DR Congo – where more than 200 local and foreign negative armed groups are based – since the late 1990s is active mainly in northern parts of North Kivu Province and southern parts of Ituri Province, bordering Uganda.

In March 2021, the United States blacklisted two Islamist extremist groups in the DR Congo and Mozambique as foreign terrorist organizations over accusations of links to Islamic State (ISIS). The ADF and its leader Seka Musa Baluku and Mozambique’s Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama were named « specially designated global terrorists.”

In October 2021, Rwanda National Police (RNP) paraded 13 suspects linked to ADF, arrested a month earlier for planning to conduct terrorist attacks in Kigali.

In the past, the ADF was largely defeated by the Ugandan military but remnants fled to eastern DR Congo from where they have since maintained their insurgency – attacking civilian and military targets in both countries.