29″ May 2022″ AFP

Civilians killed in eastern DR Congo rebel attack

Several civilians have been killed by rebel fighters in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the country’s army and civil society groups.

A spokesman for the DRC army told the AFP news agency that “more than a dozen” people have been killed in Saturday’s attack, while the Red Cross put the death toll at 24

The Kivu Security Tracker (KST), which monitors violence in the region via a team of experts on the ground, said at least 27 civilians have died.

The killings took place in a village in the Beni region in North Kivu province, army spokesperson Anthony Mualushayi told AFP.

“We heard bullets at dawn in the village of Beu Manyama. When we arrived, it was already too late because the enemy ADF had already killed more than a dozen of our fellow citizens with machetes,” he said.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have been accused of killing thousands of civilians in DRC’s troubled east.

After the attack, soldiers pursued the attackers and “neutralised seven ADF” and captured another, Mualushayi said.

Local Red Cross head Philippe Bonane put the civilian death toll at 24.

The massacre comes after almost a month of relative calm in Beni, where the Congolese and Ugandan armies have been conducting joint military operations against the ADF since late November.

On Friday another Red Cross representative said that soldiers in the neighbouring Ituri province had found 17 decapitated bodies, also believed to be victims of the ADF.

More than 120 armed groups roam eastern DRC and civilian massacres are common.

Both the North Kivu and Ituri have been under a “state of siege” since May last year. The army and police have replaced senior administrators in a bid to stem attacks by armed groups.

Despite this, the authorities have been unable to stop the massacres regularly carried out against civilians

Rwanda says soldiers kidnapped by rebels in DR Congo

Kigali says two soldiers held captive by FDLR rebels, accuses Kinshasa of backing the armed group.

Rwanda on Saturday said two of its soldiers were being held captive by rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Rwandan government authorities of backing the group responsible.

It comes after DRC summoned Rwanda’s ambassador and suspended flights from the country after accusing its neighbour of supporting the M23 rebel group active in its eastern region

Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) said two of its troops were kidnapped on patrol and were being held in eastern DRC by rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) group.

“We call upon authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo that work closely with these genocidal armed groups to secure the release of the RDF soldiers,” the RDF said in a statement.

The two soldiers were named by the RDF as Corporal Nkundabagenzi Elysee and Private Ntwari Gad.

The abduction followed an attack earlier this week along the border by Congolese forces and FDLR rebels, the RDF said.

Rwanda had already called for an investigation after accusing Congolese armed forces of firing rockets into its territory.

Fighting between Congolese forces and M23 erupted on several fronts this week in North Kivu, a conflict-torn eastern province of DRC, which borders Rwanda