In October, the DRC army has launched an operation in Eastern Congo against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group of Ugandan origin. Ever since,the ADF has carried out mass killings, terrorist attacks, beheadings, all allegedly in an attempt to discourage the local population from collaborating with DRC military forces.
General Leon Richard Kasonga, spokesman for the DRC army, declared that "a factory for large-scale production of homemade bombs" was detected in a camp previously belonging to the ADF.
Since mid November, an estimated 100 civilians were killed. However, further to the ADF, Eastern Congo is faced by an additional cause for deaths on a massive scale: since August 2018, the second-worst Ebola outbreak has killed 2,000 persons with 3,000 more being infected.
The NGO Medecins Sans Frontières was forced to withdraw its staff from the Biakato region in Eastern Congo, stating “The decision to leave this community, with whom we have worked very closely over the past few years, was extremely hard to take”.
The local population accused MONUSCO, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in Congo, of failing to fulfill its mandate and ensure their security.
To know more, please read:
https://www.msf.org/msf-withdraws-staff-security-ebola-affected-biakato-deteriorates
Author: Margherita Liverani
