An Ivorian soldier provides security on arrival of Ivorian Prime Minister Patrick Achi at the launch of a vast aid plan for young people in regions bordering Mali and Burkina Faso where jihadist groups are trying to recruit, in Tougbo, on January 22, 2022. (Photo by Sia KAMBOU / AFP)
At least 13 people were killed in a displacement camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday night, officials said, in the latest violence to hit the conflict-torn region.
The bloodshed occurred in a camp in Kisimba, in North Kivu province’s Masisi territory, said a local administrator who requested anonymity.
Five people were also wounded, he told AFP, adding that pro-Hutu Nyatura militiamen were the suspected perpetrators.
A Red Cross official provided the same casualty toll.
Armed groups have plagued much of eastern DRC for three decades, a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and 2000s.
One militia, the M23, has captured swathes of territory in North Kivu since taking up arms again in late 2021 after years of dormancy.
The rebel campaign has displaced over one million people, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
A rights activist in Kisimba, who asked not to be named, said the M23 was initially assumed to be behind the attack but that the perpetrators were members of a Nyatura group.
AFP was unable to independently verify either the death toll or the motive behind the attack.
An East African regional military force has taken over some areas previously occupied by the M23 since December.
But the Tutsi-led rebels are still present in North Kivu and still occasionally clash with rival militias.
The DRC accuses its smaller central African neighbour Rwanda of backing the M23, something Rwanda has repeatedly denied.
But US and French officials, as well as United Nations experts, agree with the assessment.
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