18 Dead bodies discovered in Ituri

By Agencies

Red Cross has discovered 18 dead bodies in several villages of Walese Vonkutu chiefdom in Irumu territory, North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Most of the bodies discovered on Monday evening were beheaded, Irumu Red Cross president Beiza Katabuka has said.  According to Katabuka, four of the decomposing bodies were buried last Saturday in the Bandipete locality 22 kilometers from Komanda.

He says that the victims were killed by Allied Democratic Forces – ADF rebels, active for about two weeks in this region. Among the victims, there are three women and two children. Katabuka asks the military authorities to secure the area to allow rescuers to access places, where “other bodies still lie on the ground”.

“For its part, civil society in Irumu is asking the army to impose peace in this border chiefdom to allow thousands of displaced people from Beni territory in North Kivu and others in Ituri to return to their communities. The army has not yet spoken on this issue,” he says. Since the beginning of this month, ADF rebels have stepped up attacks against civilians in the Walese Vonkutu chiefdom, precisely on the Pont Loya-Trois antennes road axis on national road number 4.