According to the army and a civil society leader, rebels killed at least 14 people, including children, in an overnight attack on a displaced persons camp in eastern DRC, the latest tragedy in the conflict-torn province.
Rebels stormed a place outside of Fataki, in the Djugu district of eastern Ituri province, where hundreds of civilians had sought refuge in recent months, according to army spokesman Jules Ngongo Tsikudi.
The Kivu Security Tracker (KST), a respected monitor of violence in the conflict-torn region, confirmed the incident in Djugu.
Dieudonne Lossa, a civil society activist, put the death toll at 15, blaming an armed organization known as CODECO, which was accused of conducting another attack on a nearby artisanal mining site on Sunday that killed at least 35 people.
The Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO) is a political-religious movement that claims to represent the Lendu ethnic group’s interests.
It is one of the deadliest gangs operating in the country’s east, having been implicated for several ethnic atrocities.
The gang is one of several armed groups warring over land and resources in Congo’s mineral-rich east, including ISIL (also known as ISIS) — a struggle that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions over the past decade.
The majority of the victims in Monday’s attack, according to Jules Tsuba, president of a civil society association in Djugu, were youngsters, and the death toll was tentative.
“Seeing toddlers cut up by machetes is horrible,” he told the AFP news agency.
Children were spread on the ground, covered in blood, according to photos viewed by AFP.
CODECO is known for killing civilians, with 18 people killed in a church last month and another 60 killed in a displaced persons camp in February.
The military and police-led administrations in Ituri and North Kivu, dubbed a “state of siege” in the DRC, have come under fire for their seeming ineffectiveness.
Since May of last year, security forces have ruled the regions in the hopes of reducing attacks, but civilian massacres have continued.
Various militias, including CODECO and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which ISIL describes as its local branch, have increased their attacks in the provinces.
According to the KST, around 2,500 civilians were killed between May 2021 and April 2022.
Under pressure from provincial lawmakers, President Felix Tshisekedi has chosen to assess the effectiveness of the state of siege.
In a report released on Tuesday, Amnesty International stated that the tactic had resulted in abuses rather than better security.
“Under the state of siege, the military and police authorities have utilized their powers to crack down on anyone they deem critical, including members of parliament and human rights advocates,” according to the rights group.
“They continue to put down peaceful protests and imprison people.”
