The greatly troubled people of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are still not at peace. According to NAD News, different deadly attacks took place recently.
On Sunday the 13th February worshippers in the town Ndalya in der Province Ituri in the North-East were murdered during a Church service. Others were also killed and injured outside the Church. The attackers were alleged to have been religious extremists of the “Allied Democratic Forces” (AFD), which originated from Uganda, whose government considers it a terror organisation.
AFD is a mix of various dissidents and rebels, whose history dates back to the DRC President Laurent Kabil days. In 2010 it re-emerged in the DRC, where it had since been active and perpetrated several massacres. According to Wikipedia, since the 2000s its leaders have made no pronouncements concerning their original aim of establishing an Islamic State, but use this to unite their members. Thus the reason for their insurgency is not known. AFD is believed to have connections with other rebel groups such as Al-Shabaab of Somalia.
The UN Monusco is present in the DRC.
An attack of the Bakata-Katanga-Militia (BKM) caused eleven deaths. The BKM presents itself as a movement fighting for the separation from DRC of Katanga, the huge important mining province that attacked a military base, possible to gain arms. Several of the attackers were captured.
According to ‚Die Tageszeitung (TAZ), local observers do not perceive the BKM as a liberation movement. Instead, they consider it as a tool of the one-time Police and Army chief General John Numbi, who was dismissed from the army last year. In 2010 Numbi was accused of the murder of the respected human rights activist Floribert Chebeya and his driver Fidèle Bazana. The General was suspended as Police chief a year later, four policemen were sentenced to death. Neither Numbi nor other officers were charged. Joseph Kabila, DRC President until 2019, was said to have been responsible for the murders. In recent months his successor Félix Tshisekedi had dismissed several high-ranking officials of the Kabila era, thus angering „the old guard”.
On the 8th of February, two former policemen gave radio interviews in exile to the effect that they were eyewitnesses of the murders. This has caused human rights groups to demand a new investigation into the events of 2010.
Inevitably this raises fears that the last of BKM has not yet been heard.