(Security): 17 Hostages Executed by CODECO in the Northeast of DR Congo

Seventeen people taken hostage in the Northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo were executed on Sunday by the Community Militia CODECO (Cooperative for the Development of Congo).

On Saturday, at least 17 people had been taken hostage by CODECO militiamen between the Bambu and Kobu villages, in the territory of Djugu, about 45 km north of Bunia (Ituri province).

These people were in two vehicles travelling from Bunia, the provincial capital, to the mining town of Mongbwalu when their convoy was ambushed. On Sunday, these hostages were executed in Pechi village, CODECO stronghold.

Since the end of 2022, the deaths have been counted in the dozens almost every week in Ituri, a province rich in gold.

More than thirty people, including many women and children, were massacred on March 18 in several villages. The CODECO militiamen were accused of this killing.

The CODECO is a militia of several thousand men which claims to protect the Lendu tribe against a rival tribe, the Hema, defended by another militia, the "Zaire".

After a decade of lull, the deadly conflict in Ituri between Hema and Lendu resumed at the end of 2017, causing the flight of more than one and a half million people and the death of thousands of civilians. The previous conflict between community militias caused thousands of deaths between 1999 and 2003, until the intervention of a European force, Operation Artemis, under French command.

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