DR Congo: authorities decree the closure of markets, schools and churches

Published on : 06/28/2021 – 14:19

The city of Beni is on alert. In the aftermath of a series of bombings, the Congolese authorities declared, Monday, June 28, the closure of markets, schools and churches for a period of 48 hours in Beni in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Schools, churches, markets remain closed for 48 hours,” ordered Colonel Narcisse Muteba, mayor of Beni, in a statement to the media.

“I do not want to see a crowd but we call on everyone to be calm,” added this police officer who has replaced the civilian mayor in this town in the province of North Kivu for a few weeks.

Colonel Muteba also asked all people who would like to access the city of Beni to bring their identity documents.

Prevent suspicious movements

Sunday evening in Beni, the carrier of a bomb was killed in the explosion of his machine near a bar. Earlier in the day, a bomb explosion in a Catholic church injured two women. Another similar device had exploded Saturday evening, not far from a gas station, on the outskirts of the city, without causing damage.

In a statement, the army said that “the suicide bomber who blew himself up (Sunday evening near a bar) is a subject of Ugandan origin, responding to the name of Ngudi Abdallah, very active alongside his leader the sinister terrorist Amigo “, a commander of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

The army asked “the population of Beni to denounce any suspicious movement, to dissociate themselves from the armed groups and to line up behind the armed forces”.

Beni and its surroundings have been the target since October 2014 of the ADF group, affiliated, according to the United States, to the jihadists of the Islamic State organization.

ADF rebels

A series of massacres committed by the ADF has killed at least 6,000 people since 2013, according to a count by the Congolese episcopate.

But this is the first time that an attack has targeted a Catholic church in this way or that the bearer of a bomb has been detonated.

The ADF are Ugandan Muslim rebels who have been rooting for more than 25 years in eastern Congo, where the provinces of North Kivu and neighboring Ituri were placed under siege on May 6.

Without attacking Uganda for years, the ADF movement is the deadliest of the 122 armed groups listed in eastern DRC, according to the Kivu Security Barometer (KST).

With AFP