On Sunday, seven bodies were discovered in an advanced state of decomposition on the outskirts of Mangina, a town in the Congolese province of North Kivu. The mayor of Mangina, Rocky Muvunga, stated that the victims were villagers who were executed with machetes by militiamen linked to Islamic State and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
According to reports from local youth leader Kakule Mbafumoja, the ADF is an extremely violent Ugandan group created in the 1990s to which the United Nations has charged with crimes including the murder of 1,200 civilians in 2021. The bodies were found buried and decomposing near Taha and Basisale.
The wazalendo (patriots in Swahili), self-defense groups from Butuha, accompanied the team that discovered the bodies. The governor’s delegation in Mangina has stated that the victims were villagers who were murdered by ADF militiamen before their attack on Mangina last Sunday. Three people died in this attack, also in Mangina.
The discovery of these bodies highlights the ongoing violence and human rights abuses committed by extremist groups operating in eastern Congo. The international community must take action to ensure that such atrocities do not continue and that justice is served for those affected by these heinous crimes.
