Terrorists have killed at least 69 people in northeastern DR Congo Military Issues

Terrorists have killed at least 69 people in the Ituri region of the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to security officials.

For more than 30 years, the mineral-rich eastern region of the DRC has been at war with various armed groups, who want control of its vast mines.

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Two ethnic groups – the Hema and the Lendu – have been fighting a long-standing violence in Ituri, a gold district on the border of Uganda and South Sudan.

Armed men belonging to the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO) coalition of armed groups, who claim to be protecting Lendu, attacked several villages on April 28, local and security sources told AFP.

The attack followed an earlier attack by another armed group, the Convention for the Popular Revolution (CRP) – which claims to be fighting the Hema group – on positions held by the Congolese army (FARDC) near Pimbo, he said.

More than 70 people were killed when CODECO militants unleashed violence in late April, civil society leader Dieudonne Losa told AFP.

Two other security sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the attack, while another said at least 69 people had died, including 19 soldiers and soldiers.

The presence of CODECO fighters delayed the recovery of the bodies for several days, he said.

“Only 25 bodies were buried,” Losa said on Saturday, adding that several remains were not found.

The humanitarian agency described the bodies “dumped on the ground” near the village of Bassa, which is one of the target areas.

To avoid retaliation

The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) said on April 30 it had rescued “about 200 people caught in the crossfire” from the CRP’s fighting in the FARDC.

On Saturday, it said it “strongly condemns the recent attacks on civilians” in the east.

Ente, the non-profit organization representing the Hema group, described the killings as “massacres”, and urged its members to refrain from retaliation.

Known for its mineral wealth, from cobalt and copper to uranium and diamonds, the former Belgian state has been plagued by corruption and bloodshed.

Beginning in early 2025, Ituri saw the resurgence of the CRP, a group founded by Congolese strongman Thomas Lubanga.

He was convicted in 2012 by the International Criminal Court of recruiting children into his gang and was released in 2020 after serving his prison sentence.

The conflict between the CRP, the Congolese army, and CODECO has been marked by brutality and the killing of civilians.

The community too face The ongoing insurgency of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group made up of former Ugandan rebels who pledged allegiance to ISIL (ISIS).

Rawya Rageh, senior crisis adviser at Amnesty International, told Al Jazeera that government forces must do more to protect civilians in the region.

“There are many challenges that the Congolese authorities are facing. Eastern DRC is a large area. There are many competing actors – M23, ADF, CODECO. It is a group like ADF, for example, that takes advantage of security obstacles. Most of these forces have a lot of power in response to the threat of M23,” he said.

“We expect more from the security forces. In particular, fighting the ADF, we see all the areas without soldiers who have been sent to other wars, leaving civilians vulnerable to the ADF and other armed forces.”