ADF Rebels Strike Again in Congo's Lubero as Troops Free 29 Hostages in Ituri, ICC Says
One Christian was found killed with a machete in a Nov. 3 raid on a village already hit hard by Ebola, while Congolese and Ugandan soldiers freed captives seized from cassava fields.
See where this is ›LUBERO, Congo —
Fighters of the Allied Democratic Forces attacked Maikengu village in Lubero territory, North Kivu province, in eastern Congo on the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 3, International Christian Concern reported Nov. 5. Local authorities told the ministry that one Christian was found killed with a machete and that many others could not be found.
Residents fled toward Kambau and Nziapanda, ICC said. The ADF had been away from the area for nearly half a year. When the group first invaded the Bapere area in June 2024, it killed 42 people in many villages nearby, according to ICC.
The raid came on top of an Ebola outbreak in the region. “We have already lost so much to Ebola disease, and now we are afraid of losing even more,” a woman named Jannette told ICC. The ministry said the Congolese army has begun sending troops to the area.
See where this is ›In a separate report the same day, ICC said 29 people, including Christians, were rescued in late October after nearly a month as ADF hostages in Ituri province. Joint operations by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) freed them in the forests of Biakato and Alimbako, along the Nduye-Dingbo road.
“We were in the fields harvesting cassava when the ADF suddenly appeared,” a survivor from Biakato told ICC. An official in Ituri said several survivors are gradually being reunited with their families.
ICC cited an Oct. 27 report by The Sentry, a watchdog group, which said abduction “remains the backbone of the ADF's manpower” and that the group earns about $1 million to $1.6 million a year from gold mines it controls in the Manguredjipa area alone. The ADF is linked to the Islamic State group.
What we don't know yet: How many people were killed or are missing after the Maikengu attack, and the exact date of the Ituri rescue. ICC named none of the officials it quoted, and Watchman News has not independently confirmed these reports.
