Mick Hartley

The fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as with the fighting in Sudan, barely if ever makes the news. Still, you'd think this might be worth a mention somewhere, but today's the first I've heard of it (via). It happened some three weeks ago. 

Around 70 bodies, including those of women, children and elderly people, were discovered on Feb. 15 in a church building in the village of Maiba, in Lubero territory in North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Civil services say these people – who were found, bound and decapitated – were killed with knives. No armed group has claimed responsibility for the killing, but there is growing suspicion that the massacre was carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) – a militia allied to the Islamic State.

International Christian Concern quotes local sources as revealing that the people were all Christians.

It says members of the militia detained many Christian villagers before tying them up in a local protestant church and decapitating them with machetes.

Pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need reports that the ADF operates both in Uganda and the DRC , and has been terrorizing the local population for more than a decade.

“Islamist groups have stepped up attacks and assaults on isolated villages, already killing thousands of Congolese civilians,” it stated.

Even Aid to the Church in Need are playing it down:

The latest massacre of 70 Christians might seem like persecution, but Maria Lozano, Director of ACN International Press and Media Department, says there needs to be a more careful analysis to determine the motives.

“We cannot speak of persecution across the entire country, as most of the violence occurring in the DRC has no religious connection. It is important to be cautious and avoid oversimplifying or misleading people in our analysis,” she told Crux.

She explained that the recent massacre is likely to result from “a mixed of reasons.”

“One of them is that these victims were unable to resist or endure the forced march. When the rebels take hostages, they force them to travel with them, either as reinforcements for their group or as forced labor for their war effort. When there’s loot, they need people to carry it. If you get tired on the way, you’re done. I believe that’s what happened to these 70 people. The church was the best place to get rid of them,” she told Crux.

She said the fact that the people were killed in a church doesn’t necessarily mean they were targeted in anti-Christian pogroms.

“Most of the fighting in the DRC is related to the competition for resources,” she noted.

Hmm. Seventy people, all Christians, decapitated in a church, very likely by an Islamist group – but hey, it's all about the struggle for resources. Nothing to see here.

More on the ADF:

The Allied Democratic Forces (French: Forces démocratiques alliées; abbreviated ADF) is a Ugandan Islamist rebel group based in western Uganda and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is considered a terrorist organisation by the Ugandan government and the United States. Originally based in western Uganda, it has expanded into the neighbouring Congo. Most ADF fighters are Ugandan Muslims from the Baganda and Basoga ethnic groups….