In a devastating act of violence, nearly 40 people were killed on Sunday, July 11, in Ituri province, eastern Congo, when the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) stormed a Catholic church in Komanda town during a midnight vigil.
The attack, which claimed the lives of at least 38 worshippers inside the church and five others in a nearby village, targeted men, women, and children. Survivors reported that the assault took place around 1 a.m. and that the attackers fled before security forces arrived.
ADF’s Islamist Roots and Congo’s Turmoil Fuel Relentless Violence in Remote Borderlands
The ADF, which carried out the attack, originated in Uganda during the 1990s in response to what was perceived as an anti-Muslim stance by the government of President Yoweri Museveni. Initially a Ugandan rebel group, the ADF has since expanded its operations into the remote borderlands between Uganda and Congo.
In 2019, the group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and has increasingly focused on establishing an Islamic caliphate in the region, often targeting civilians in rural areas.
Eastern Congo has suffered from chronic instability for decades, especially following the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The region is now home to more than 100 armed groups, with the Rwanda-backed M23 being the most prominent. While joint Congolese-Ugandan military operations have been launched to combat the ADF, analysts argue these efforts have only dispersed the group, allowing it to continue retaliatory attacks on civilians, largely unimpeded.
ADF Exploits Military Distraction to Target Civilians Amid Escalating Regional Instability and Violence
Experts believe that the ADF is exploiting the Congolese military’s preoccupation with M23 and other insurgent groups in the mineral-rich southern regions. This diversion of focus has allowed the ADF to strike soft targets like churches and villages with little resistance.
According to Onesphore Sematumba of the International Crisis Group, the ADF has used the chaos to operate more freely and avoid international scrutiny while continuing its brutal campaign.
The attack has triggered national outrage and international condemnation. The Congolese government labeled the massacre as “horrific,” and the military acknowledged it as a large-scale revenge attack by the ADF. Meanwhile, the M23 rebel group used the incident to criticize the government’s failure to protect civilians.
The UN peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, warned that such attacks further deepen the already dire humanitarian crisis in Ituri province, where violence and displacement are on the rise.
