BENI, Democratic Republic of Congo — Islamist militants from the Allied Democratic Forces killed at least seven Christians during an overnight attack in Beni, North Kivu Province, in what survivors described as a targeted execution of unarmed Pygmy villagers in the Ngadi neighborhood of the Ruwenzori district.
The victims, members of the Twa ethnic group, were murdered after ADF fighters blocked escape routes and opened fire, according to the local chief and survivor testimony reported by International Christian Concern. One Christian villager who survived the attack recounted the horror: “They arrived without us realizing it. They woke us up and, with an Islamic shout, ‘Allahu Akbar,’ the shooting started, and people began to be slaughtered like animals.”
The same villager described losing a companion, Shukrani Mangese, who turned back to check on his parents and was killed alongside them. “I almost died in that attack,” the villager said. “In the midst of the chaos, I managed to escape the camp. I was with Shukrani Mangese, who returned because he was worried about his parents, and that is when they killed him along with them. We are Pygmies. We do not know anything about politics, but they are killing us.”
Outraged residents launched protests in Beni, carrying the bodies of the victims on makeshift stretchers toward the city center and blocking roads with stones to condemn the slow military response. Police forces used tear gas to disperse the crowds.
In a related incident, four people were kidnapped by ADF armed men on the road connecting Kiwanja and Kanyabayonga, in the heart of Virunga National Park near Busendo in Rutshuru territory. Among those taken was Father Gédéon Kasereka Bahati, a Catholic priest from the parish of Saint Joseph in Bobandana, Diocese of Goma. Father Kasereka Bahati was captured after officiating a wedding in Kanyabayonga. His driver and the newlywed couple were also taken hostage.
The ADF, an Islamist armed group with pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, has waged a campaign of violence against Christian communities across eastern Congo for years. The attacks come as the DRC battles a new Ebola outbreak — its 17th epidemic since 1976 — compounding the humanitarian crisis in North Kivu.
The Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Beni condemned the killings. “We strongly condemn the killing of innocent civilians in Beni,” he said. “We call upon all communities to remain united in this painful moment and to reject any form of violence or religious persecution. Peace and justice must prevail for healing to take place.”
The fate of Father Kasereka Bahati and the three other hostages remains unknown, with no ransom demands or communications from the ADF reported as of this writing.