Rebel fighters kill at least 69 people in northeastern DR Congo

An assault by armed rebels has killed at least 69 people in Ituri province in the conflict-torn northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in keeping with safety officers.

For greater than 30 years, the mineral-rich jap DRC has been a battleground for numerous armed teams, vying for management of its many mines.

Two ethnic teams – the Hema and the Lendu – have been locked in a long-running violent battle in Ituri, a gold-rich province that borders Uganda and South Sudan.

Armed males affiliated with the Cooperative for the Improvement of the Congo (CODECO) coalition of militia teams, which claims to guard the Lendu, carried out assaults in a number of villages on April 28, native and safety sources informed the AFP information company.

These assaults adopted an earlier assault by one other armed group, the Conference for the Widespread Revolution (CRP) – which says it fights for the Hema group – on positions held by the Congolese military (FARDC) close to the locality of Pimbo, they mentioned.

Greater than 70 people had been killed when CODECO fighters launched the retaliatory assaults in late April, civil society chief Dieudonne Losa informed AFP.

Two different safety sources, speaking on situation of anonymity, confirmed the assaults, with one stating a dying toll of at least 69, together with 19 militia members and troopers.

The presence of CODECO fighters delayed the restoration of the our bodies for a number of days, they mentioned.

“Solely 25 our bodies have been buried,” Losa mentioned on Saturday, including a number of units of stays had but to be recovered.

A humanitarian supply described our bodies “strewn on the bottom” close to the village of Bassa, one of many areas focused.

Avoiding retaliation

The United Nations Group Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) mentioned on April 30 it had rescued “practically 200 people caught underneath fireplace” from the CRP assault on the FARDC.

On Saturday, it mentioned it “strongly condemns the latest wave of lethal assaults focusing on civilians” in the restive east.

The Ente affiliation, a nonprofit representing the Hema group, described the killings as a “bloodbath”, urging its members to keep away from retaliation.

Well-known for its mineral wealth, starting from cobalt and copper to uranium and diamonds, the previous Belgian colony has lengthy been beset by corruption and bloodshed.

Since early 2025, Ituri has seen a resurgence of the CRP, a bunch based by convicted Congolese strongman Thomas Lubanga.

He was discovered responsible in 2012 by the Worldwide Prison Court docket for recruiting kids into his insurgent military and launched in 2020 on completion of his jail sentence.

Combating between the CRP, the Congolese military, and the CODECO has been marked by widespread abuses and killings of civilians.

The area additionally faces ongoing assaults by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a bunch shaped by former Ugandan rebels that has pledged allegiance to ISIL (ISIS).

Rawya Rageh, a senior disaster adviser at Amnesty Worldwide, informed Al Jazeera that authorities forces must be doing extra to guard civilians in the area.

“There are a number of challenges dealing with the Congolese authorities. Japanese DRC is an enormous space. There are a number of competing actors – M23, ADF, CODECO. With a bunch like ADF, for instance, they capitalise on safety gaps. A lot of the forces are overstretched responding to the risk from M23,” she mentioned.

“We do count on extra from the safety forces. Specifically, with the confrontations with the ADF, we see complete areas which can be emptied of troops which have been diverted to different entrance strains, leaving civilians fully susceptible to ADF and different armed teams.”