Submit this form
Home News Videos Music Photos Facebook Twitter Friends Newsletter Podcasts Mobile RSS
FDLR Rebels Continue Campaign of Terror in Eastern Congo

Congo News Agency - August 23, 2010
Miliciens au Congo

Rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) have been reported in the North Kivu region of Walikale, where they are, once again, conducting a terror campaign against the local population.

From Saturday night to Sunday, FDLR rebels made an incursion into the village of Butua, some 12 km from the center of Walikale, and looted and kidnapped civilians, local sources said.

The assailants, said to have been joined by elements from a Mai Mai militia, were armed with machetes, spears, and guns. They attacked as the residents of the village were sleeping. The rebels went house to house in butua and looted everything on their way. They took livestock and other objects of value from the population.

A human rights activist in Walikale, who asked not to be identified, said that about twenty people, including women, were kidnapped and taken into the forest. The same source said that similar attacks were reported in the villages of Karumya, Kason, Tobo and Kisa, around Bafuna, in the region of Wanyanga.

Fearing attacks from the FDLR, residents from the villages of Nyasa, Bulambo, and Kampala, are spending the night in the forest, the same sources said.

The administrator of Walikale has confirmed these reports and said he expects the FDLR rebels to carry out more attacks.

Civil Society organizations in Walikale deplored the low number of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) soldiers in the area of Wanyanga. They called for an increase of FARDC units in these villages.

Other reports have emerged of rapes by FDLR rebels in the region. The United Nations confirmed on Monday a report by a local humanitarian organization that around 200 women have sought treatment after being raped by FDLR rebels.

The attacks are said to have been carried out around July 30. The United Nations Organisation Stabilization Mission in the Congo (MONUSCO) has a military base in Kibua, some 30 kilometres east of the scene of the attack.

The UN suggested on Monday it did not intervene, or was unaware of the attacks at the time, because the rebels “blocked the road and prevented villagers from reaching the nearest communication point at the time the crimes were committed.”

Three United Nations peacekeepers from India were killed by Mai Mai militiamen said to be allied with FDLR rebels in an attack on a UN base in Kirumba, North Kivu, on Wednesday last week.

The rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda is made up of ethnic Rwandan Hutu militiamen who were involved in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda against ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. They crossed the border into eastern Congo along with millions of Hutu refugees who fled the country after the genocide fearing reprisals.

They have since committed numerous atrocities against the Congolese population in North and South Kivu provinces, and are a main source of the insecurity that has plagued the region for more than a decade, leading to millions of Congolese deaths.


On the web: Congo News Agency | Excerpts from Le Palmares article


Related articles


  1. 'Deadly environment' plus 'political and social' obstacles hinder Ebola fight, Security Council hears (July 24, 2019)
  2. Ebola outbreak declared an international Public Health Emergency (July 17, 2019)
  3. Constitutional Court Declares Tshisekedi Winner of Presidential Election (January 19, 2019)
  4. At least 30 dead after massacres in Ituri (March 2, 2018)
  5. Peacekeepers, Congo Army to Resume Joint Fight Against Rwandan Rebels (January 28, 2016)
  6. Political tensions 'running high' in DR Congo ahead of 2016 elections (October 7, 2015)
  7. DRC Army Putting Pressure on FDLR (April 1, 2015)
  8. Denis Mukwege Wins Sakharov Prize 2014 (October 21, 2014)
  9. Violence in North Kivu Kills 21, Mostly Women, Children (October 18, 2014)
  10. Southern African Leaders to Meet in Zimbabwe (August 15, 2014)
  11. Senior UN officials urge Brazzaville to halt expulsion of DR Congo nationals (May 26, 2014)
  12. Kerry Calls on Kabila to Honor Constitution (May 4, 2014)
  13. Security Council extends UN mission, intervention force in DR Congo for one year (March 28, 2014)
  14. Death toll in Lake Albert boat accident rises to 251 (March 27, 2014)
  15. Death toll in Lake Albert boat accident rises to 108 people (March 24, 2014)
  16. New DR Congo amnesty law welcomed by UN envoys (February 5, 2014)
  17. Colonel Mamadou Ndala Is Killed in Ambush (January 2, 2014)
  18. DR Congo, M23 Rebels Sign Declarations Marking End of Kampala Peace Talks (December 12, 2013)
  19. No 'Peace Deal' With Defeated M23 Rebels, DR Congo Says (November 11, 2013)
  20. Congo Will Not Sign a 'Peace Deal' With Defeated M23 Rebels, Government Says (November 6, 2013)
  21. Congo Army Takes Control of Mbuzi Hill From M23 Rebels (November 4, 2013)
  22. Kabila Congratulates Congo Army for Defeating M23 Rebels (October 30, 2013)
  23. Advancing Congo Troops Take Control of Rumangabo From M23 Rebels (October 28, 2013)
  24. Congo Army Liberates Rutshuru, Kiwanja and Kibumba From M23 Rebels (October 27, 2013)
  25. Congo Army Dislodges M23 Rebels From Strategic Town of Kibumba (October 26, 2013)
  26. Congo Army Takes Control of Kibumba After Fighting With M23 Rebels Resumes (October 25, 2013)
  27. U.S. Sanctions Rwanda Over Use of Child Soldiers by M23 Rebels (October 4, 2013)
  28. Ban Ki-moon Confirms M23 Rebels Shelled Rwanda (August 31, 2013)
  29. DR Congo Will Defend Itself Against an Attack by Rwanda, Government Says (August 31, 2013)
  30. M23 Rebels Fired Shells Into Rwanda, Not Congo Army, UN Says (August 30, 2013)


Live TV Congo Radio en ligne Radio
Available on App Store
Get it on Google Play



Contact Us | About Us | Édition en Français | French Edition

© CongoPlanet.com. All rights reserved.