About 30 civilians have been killed in a massacre in an area of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that has been shaken by violence since 2014, the army said on Sunday.
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DR Congo President Joseph Kabila termed the attack as “pure terrorism”.
The attack in Beni was created to “to sabotage the efforts at peace undertaken in the last two years”, Paluku said.
The attack happened barely a week after 14 people were killed in another incident near Beni.
Omar Kavota, the executive director at the Centre of Study for the Promotion of Peace, Democracy and Human Rights that documents violence in North Kivu, said he had received reports of as many as 50 dead.
Hazukay said the rebels slipped by the military to carry out the attack on civilians. Find us on Facebook too! It’s not normal that they slaughter us like goats, ‘ said demonstrator Georges Kamate, who drives a motorbike taxi.
‘There is a blatant lack of security, (the authorities) are not capable of keeping the population safe, that is why these people have come into the street, ‘ he explained.
The government rejected the claims and said the ADF was “definitely” responsible for the massacres.
Congo’s government blames the attacks on the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamist insurgent group originally based in Uganda that has operated along Congo’s border since the late 1990’s.
The ADF has been accused of human-rights violations and is believed to be involved in numerous criminal networks funded by kidnappings, smuggling and illegal logging.
But there are dozens of armed groups active in the North Kivu region, where government forces have also been accused of attacking civilians.
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“MONUSCO condemns this barbaric act against the civilian population, and reaffirms its support to the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Congolese National Police to protect the civilian population in Beni”, the United Nations force s leader Maman Sidikou said in a statement.
