In the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a dozen people taken hostage on March 25, 2023 were executed on March 26 about forty kilometers from Bunia, the capital of Ituri. The vehicle they were in was ambushed by the URDPC militia, a faction of the armed group Codeco.
With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the security situation is further deteriorating in Ituri. A dozen people taken hostage on March 25, 2023 were executed the next day about forty kilometers from Bunia, the provincial capital, according to local sources. This renewed violence comes in a province facing attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and other armed groups.
The kidnapped civilians came from Bunia and were on their way to the mining town of Mungwalu.
The vehicle they were in was ambushed by the militia Union of the revolutionaries for the defense of the Congolese people (URDPC), a faction of the armed group Codeco (Cooperative for the Development of congo).
Customary and military sources do not agree on the exact number of hostages. They confirm, however, that they were executed in circumstances which, at least, remain to be elucidated.
► Read also DRC: in Ituri, the head of Monusco notes “an upsurge in violence”
In its latest report, the UN group of experts on the DRC reported that the URDPC continued to consolidate its influence over the other factions of Codeco and to grow stronger in the province.
For its part, the army warns about the communitarization of the conflict.
Military sources inform on the fact that this last operation of Codeco would be part of the reprisals.
This armed movement is said to have acted following another series of hostage-takings carried out in recent days by the Zaire militia, whose members are mainly from a community considered to be a rival.