{"id":31369,"date":"2016-12-26T01:31:24","date_gmt":"2016-12-26T01:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/twenty-two-civilians-killed-in-dr-congo-bloodbath\/"},"modified":"2016-12-26T01:31:20","modified_gmt":"2016-12-26T01:31:20","slug":"twenty-two-civilians-killed-in-dr-congo-bloodbath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/twenty-two-civilians-killed-in-dr-congo-bloodbath\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-two civilians killed in DR Congo bloodbath"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least 22 civilians were killed in a massacre in Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive North Kivu province, officials said Sunday, the latest in a two-year wave of violence plaguing the region.<\/p>\n

The bloodshed occurred in Eringeti, a town 55 kilometres north of the regional hub Beni, a city hit by a series of attacks that have claimed more than 700 civilian lives according to regional official Amisi Kalonda, who blamed the latest strike on Ugandan rebels.<\/p>\n

Kalonda said members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group of rebels dominated by puritanical Ugandan Muslims and entrenched in the region for about two decades, stormed the town on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

“The ADF has yet again plunged the people of Eringeti and its surrounding areas into mourning,” he told AFP, speaking from the North Kivu capital Goma.<\/p>\n

{{10 Civilians killed }}<\/p>\n

“Yesterday, they killed 10 civilians. Twelve other bodies were found (Sunday) in the surrounding villages.”<\/p>\n

“The modus operandi is always the same,” he said, adding that the victims were either killed with knives or machetes.<\/p>\n

For the past two years the region around Beni has been afflicted by massacres that have killed hundreds of civilians, most of whom were hacked to death.<\/p>\n

Congolese officials have blamed the attacks on the ADF but several expert reports have suggested that other groups, including elements within the Congolese army, took part in some killings.<\/p>\n

{{ADF rebels }} <\/p>\n

Congolese army spokesman Mak Hazukay confirmed the attack, saying military forces had “killed four ADF rebels” but added that “the toll on the civilian side is very heavy”.<\/p>\n

Teddy Kataliki, the head of a prominent local civic group, also spoke of at least 22 victims. But a Catholic priest in the area said there had been 27 deaths and the toll could rise “if bodies are found in the forest” bordering the town.<\/p>\n

The priest said the Christmas midnight mass was held in the afternoon before nightfall for security reasons. <\/p>\n

“Yesterday the bodies of 10 civilians were found and today another 12,” Kataliki said, adding that this was a provisional toll.<\/p>\n

{{Toll likely to rise }} <\/p>\n

“We don’t understand this situation which continues to bereave the region of Beni.”<\/p>\n

Kataliki said another such attack was underway on Sunday evening in the town of Oicha, further south.<\/p>\n

An army spokesman said troops were engaged in an operation in the area but refused to provide further details.<\/p>\n

The priest however said, when contacted late Sunday, that the army “has pushed back the attackers”.<\/p>\n

When the Beni massacres kicked off in October 2014, the ADF was quickly branded the culprit by both DR Congo authorities and MONUSCO, the UN mission in DR Congo. <\/p>\n

More than two years on, Congolese authorities and the UN have been unable to protect civilians and the ADF remains the only official explanation \u2014 with the government insisting on a jihadist link to the killings.<\/p>\n

It comes as relations with the international community have soured over President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to step down despite his term ending on December 20. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least 22 civilians were killed in a massacre in Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive North Kivu province, officials said Sunday, the latest in a two-year wave of violence plaguing the region. The bloodshed occurred in Eringeti, a town 55 kilometres north of the regional hub Beni, a city hit by a series of attacks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99],"byline":[228],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-31369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-afp"],"bylines":[{"id":228,"name":"AFP","slug":"afp","description":"Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris. It is the oldest news agency in the world and one of the largest. ","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":71}],"contributors":[{"id":228,"name":"AFP","slug":"afp","description":"Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris. It is the oldest news agency in the world and one of the largest. ","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":71}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31369"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=31369"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=31369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}