In a series of deadly attacks over the weekend, rebel groups claimed the lives of at least 21 people, according to local officials.
One of the attacks occurred in Bwito township in northeastern Congo, where members of the M23 rebel group, accused by the United Nations of having links to Rwanda, shot and killed 11 civilians on Sunday, August 6.
The M23 group gained power about 10 years ago after capturing Goma, eastern Congo’s largest city, in an effort to demand the implementation of a 2009 peace deal.
In another incident, armed rebels with ties to the Islamic State group killed 10 civilians in a northeastern province.
The ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, where over 120 groups are fighting for control of the area’s mineral resources and are defending their communities, has resulted in frequent mass killings and forced refugee evacuations.
The attack near the village of Bwito occurred after armed confrontations between M23 and local self-defense groups, during which the rebels carried out their attack.
A local leader, Jonas Pandanzi, expressed concern that government troops in the area did not intervene to assist.
Ten civilians were killed in the same region on Saturday by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which has joined with the Islamic State group. The victims, along with five others killed in another attack on July 29 in Walese-Vilonkutu, have not been properly buried, with their bodies scattered in the forest and some already decomposing.
The ADF has been accused of several attacks in the past few years, against civilians in remote parts of the eastern Congo and its neighbor Uganda. An incident in June claimed the lives of 42 people, mainly students.
