(10 Mar 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++GRAPHIC FOOTAGE++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mukondi, North Kivu province, Congo - 09 March 2023
1. Various of victims being buried in a mass grave after the village was attacked by Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), according to Congolese military
2. Mid of a body of a body bag
3. SOUNDBITE (French) Col. Charles Ehuta Omeonga, military administrator of Beni Region:
"As you see, in Mukondi, it is always the same ADF, which is always ill-intentioned against the Congolese. So they showed up here, and did what they did last night, at 8 p.m. in the village of Mukondi. We lost many of our brothers."
4. Various of troops deployed regional capital touring the village
5. Various of charred buildings
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Emille Saidi Balikwisha, local politician:
"Here, 3 or 4 days do not go by without us recording deaths, the result of barbarity, the ADF terrorists. That is why once again, we repeat, we need a considerable (sized) military force to come that can contribute to the restoration of peace."
7. Various of a destroyed building
8. Various of a soldier
9. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Kasereka Déogratias, resident from Mukondi:
"It was yesterday evening around 7 p.m., I heard noises and the children started to flee suddenly. The rebels were attacking towards our health centre. There was shouting, the children started shouting that "The ADF rebels are here"."
10. Various of Mukondi village signs
STORYLINE:
At Least 36 people were killed by extremists in conflict-riddled eastern Congo, the Congolese military said on Thursday.
The Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel militia with links to the Islamic State group, killed civilians in Mukondi, a village in North Kivu province 25km SW of Beni in an attack that began late Wednesday, according to survivors.
Military forces arrived too late to protect the villagers, according to a local leader who said the ADF fighters left back into the forest with hostages before troops could arrive. Officials from provincial capital Beni toured the stricken village Thursday afternoon, as villagers buried the dead in a mass grave.
Conflict has been simmering in eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups fight for power, influence and resources and some to protect their communities. The ADF has been largely active in North Kivu province but has recently extended its operations into neighbouring Ituri province and to areas near the regional capital, Goma.
The ADF rebels are accused by the U.N. and rights groups of targeting, maiming, raping and abducting civilians, including children. Earlier this month the United States offered a reward of up to $5 million for information that could lead to the capture of the group's leader, Seka Musa Baluku.
The attack began around 7 p.m. Wednesday when men with guns and machetes stormed the village and started indiscriminately killing people, witnesses told The Associated Press by phone.
“The rebels came and they first burned houses. Then everyone who came out of his house was either cut up with machetes or shot dead," said Saddam Patangoli, a resident of Mukondi village who fled the attack and returned to his home the following day. They also abducted many civilians, he said.
Some people are blaming the incident on the Congo army's lack of presence in the area.
ADF's persistence and evolution in eastern Congo for nearly three decades exposes the extent of the challenge facing the government, say analysts.
AP Video by Kitwa Musayi
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