At least 24 villagers were killed by Islamist militants in the mainly Christian north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on 28 May.
The attack on the village of Beu Manyama in the Beni region of North Kivu province was carried out by members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which is linked to Islamic State (IS – also known as ISIS, ISIL, Daesh).
“We heard bullets at dawn in the village,” said an army spokesman. “When we arrived it was already too late because the ADF had already killed more than a dozen of our fellow citizens with machetes.”
In a video released on 1 April 2022, ADF leader Musa Baluku renewed the group’s pledge of allegiance to Islamic State
The Red Cross said 24 people died in the attack; however, the Kivu Security Tracker, which monitors violence in the region, claimed the death toll was at least 27.
On 27 May another Red Cross representative said that soldiers in neighbouring Ituri province had found 17 decapitated bodies, also believed to be victims of the ADF.
In April 2022 a church leader in Uganda, which borders the DRC, warned that ADF militants are “mercilessly killing Christians”. He added that many people are fleeing the north-eastern DRC and seeking refuge in western Uganda.
Both Ituri and North Kivu provinces remain under a state of emergency (known as a “state of siege”), which was imposed in May 2021.
Pray for protection for our brothers and sisters in the north-eastern DRC, who patiently endure relentless attacks (Revelation 14:12). Ask the Lord, for whom nothing is impossible, to change the hatred of the men of violence into love.
