DRC: Situation Improves in the East, but Military Presence Raises Concerns

Motorcycle taxis are already circulating, but truck drivers are still afraid to travel. According to reports, the ADF rebels, the Allied Democratic Forces, have moved south, near the Nepoko River.

Yesterday, two trucks belonging to the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) arrived in Mungbere. The military has set up camp in the Pygmy boarding school, built by the Comboni Missionaries on the parish grounds.

Meanwhile, at the Apodo mission, a soldier attempted to sexually assault a young woman. She refused. She was married and was with her two-year-old baby at her father's house. The soldier threatened her with his weapon, which accidentally discharged, instantly killing the little girl and seriously wounding the mother, who was treated at the hospital in Mungbere.

The soldier, threatening everyone and everything in his path, fled into the forest.

This is yet another war crime committed by a FARDC soldier. Civilians do not know whether they should fear the military or the rebels more.

The ADF is a Ugandan Islamist movement operating in eastern DRC, affiliated with the Islamic State Central Africa Province. They have been present in the Mungbere region since late May.