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Anglicans Raped and Killed in Democratic Republic of Congo
By Godfrey Olukya
VOL African Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
December 3, 2020
Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an insurgent jihadist group has killed at least 30 Christians, mostly Anglicans, in five villages in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between November 20th and December 3, an area security officer has confirmed.
He said a number of girls had also been raped by the rebels.
During that time, the ADF reportedly attacked villages in North Kivu Province. The worst hit village is Mayitike where the Anglicans were killed.
One of the survivors, Tony Longi an Anglican said, "It was very early in the morning of November 22nd when the rebels attacked our village. I escaped from my house through the hind door and hid in the latrine."
He said that through the ventilator of the latrine he saw the rebels killing 4 members of his family including his wife and 3 children.
Area security officer, Lieutenant Abu Mwanamboka, said that the rebels usually strike in the night or early in the morning. We got information that as they killed the Christians the were saying that they were killing them because they refused to convert to Islam.
In Mayitike village which is located only 20 miles from the city of Beni, a local clergyman said that he lost all five members of his family when ADF rebels attacked.
A local newspaper, Morning Star, quoted the clergyman (whose name was withheld) who lost his family members, said they tried to force some of our Christians to convert to Islam. "They also tried to force my wife and our four children to convert to Islam, but when they refused to convert, they shot my wife in the head while our four children were cut into pieces with a sword."
ADF rebels, who have been active in predominantly Christian, northeastern Congo for 20 years, rejuvenated their attacks on Christians after the DRC army launched a large-scale offensive in October 2019. They rebel militants reportedly intend to establish an Islamist state ruled by Sharia, (Islamic law).
Morning star wrote; "There was a throng of Christians flooding the streets in a helpless situation, as well as radical Muslim extremists surrounding five churches. Ten girls had been raped and 15 mores abducted from the Anglican Church and Roman Catholic Church, with 14 Christians admitted to a hospital in critical condition with injuries to their heads, and others with fractured hands and legs due to the use of guns, machete, clubs, swords and axes."
Founded in the 1990s in western Uganda, the ADF is one of several insurgent groups operating in northeastern Congo. The U.S. Treasury Department in December 2019 imposed sanctions on ADF leaders for mass rape, torture and killings and other human rights abuses of civilians.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has a population of 89.4 million with 92 percent being Christian and 1.7 percent being Muslim.
END
