{More than 60 people have been kidnapped by in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by members of an armed group. }
David Rugiya, an army commander in the eastern district of Ituri, said suspected Mai Mai militiamen abducted the people in the village of Muchacha on Friday.
Rugiya added that Mai Mai members also assaulted several women as they left the village.
The militia group is active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, forcing men to join its ranks and taking women as spouses.
Mai Mai, which consists of 5,000 to 7,000 members, was formed nearly two decades ago to defend local territory against other armed groups from neighboring Rwanda.
The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, also known as FARDC, have been engaged in offensives against the Allied Democratic Forces rebel group, which has been hiding out in the northeast Congo forest for years.
Congo has witnessed back-to-back wars between 1998 and 2002. Its volatile east is home to armed groups fighting for control of the region’s rich mineral resources while the capital, Kinshasa, suffers from criminal gang violence.
Agencies
Leave a Reply