Goma, DR Congo - Twenty-three people have been killed in two new massacres blamed on Ugandan rebels in the restless east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a regional official told AFP on Thursday.
The killings are the latest blamed on the rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), who are accused of murdering more than 300 people in seven months of massacres in and around the major trading hub of Beni in DR Congo's North Kivu province.
The latest massacres occurred near the town of Mbau, not far from Beni, regional administrator Amisi Kalonda told AFP by telephone.
The Muslim rebels of the ADF launched an insurgency in neighbouring Uganda against President Yoweri Museveni in the mid-1990s and later established bases on the Congolese side of the border.
The security situation in the region has dramatically deteriorated since last week, with five killed near Beni on Monday and seven killed in a similar massacre on Friday.
"We are outraged by the massacres," said Teddy Kataliko, president of Beni's civil society body which this week initiated a protest movement against the government's incapacity to protect the population.
Beni, which has a population of half a million, has been paralyzed by the protest action, with hundreds of residents marching through the streets on Tuesday, chanting slogans against authorities before being dispersed by police.
Authorities urged people to return to work, but strikes continued.
AFP
