At least 46 dead, 26 children, in the attack on a camp for displaced persons in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

2023-06-13 20:42:39

A total of 26 children are among the at least 46 dead caused at dawn this Monday in an attack by the rebel group Cooperative for the Development of Congo (Codeco) against a camp for displaced persons in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), informed this Tuesday the NGO Save The Children.

“We are shocked and devastated by the senseless attack on a camp of displaced persons in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which claimed the lives of at least 23 children,” Save the Children DRC humanitarian director Cecilia Thiam said in a statement.

“This incident is a grave reminder that children are still the most affected by the conflict in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and terrible violations are being committed against them,” Thiam denounced.

The humanitarian NGO emphasized that “all parties to the conflict must ensure that children are never targets and the perpetrators of this violence must be held accountable and brought to justice.”

The attack occurred in the Lala displacement camp, in Ituri province, early Monday morning.

Codeco has raided camps for displaced people on other occasions, including one of its deadliest attacks, which left at least 62 people dead in the Plaine Savo camp (also in Ituri) in February 2022.

escalation of attacks

Some parts of Ituri have recently seen a serious escalation of attacks by armed groups, especially by Codeco, which represents the Lendu community and was formed as an armed group in 2018 to fight against the abuses of the Congolese Army.

Some of the worst massacres may have been acts of reprisal against the Ituri Popular Self-Defense Front (FPAC-Zaire) militia, which describes itself as a self-defense group to protect the Hema community against Codeco attacks.

The Lendu (farmers) and Hema (herders) communities have a dispute that caused thousands of deaths between 1999 and 2003.

Faced with this wave of violence, the UN special adviser for the prevention of genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, warned in mid-January of the risk of genocide taking place.

Since 1998, eastern DRC has been mired in a conflict fueled by rebel militias and the Armydespite the presence of the United Nations mission in the DRC (Monusco).