An ADF Attack Adds to Eastern Congo’s Already Complex Conflict
World Politics ReviewJan 20, 2023
Local authorities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) stated on Thursday that over 40 people have been killed in twin attacks carried out overnight on Wednesday in the neighboring villages of Mukondi and Mausa in the Beni territory of the North Kivu province.
The provisional death toll from the raids — attributed to the allegedly Islamic State (IS)-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels — is 38 people in Mukondi and eight in Mausa, most of them reportedly killed with knives.
The DRC-based Ugandan rebel group ADF has consistently executed deadly attacks in North Kivu despite Kinshasa enforcing a state of siege in the area, revealing that the M23 is not the only threat to national and regional stability. And though cooperation between the DRC and Uganda has indeed achieved some tactical and operational goals against the ADF, the group's inner circle has not been broken yet.
While undeniable that the ADP has not been defeated yet, as it keeps creating chaos in the eastern DRC, joint efforts by Congolese and Ugandan forces have successfully expelled the ADF from the Ituri province, allowing civilians to return to their villages, and rescued those held in captivity by the terrorists. There is still a long way to go to eradicate ADF, but authorities are on the right path.