The African Union (AU) today strongly condemned the massacres committed by a rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which killed 150 people in June.

According to a statement, the president of the AU commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, " learned with dismay of the increasing massacres of innocent civilians by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the territories of Beni and Lubero, in the North Kivu province of the DRC ."

“The chairman of the commission strongly condemns these attacks, which have already cost the lives of 150 people since the beginning of June,” the statement said.

Mahamat encourages the Congolese authorities, in collaboration with countries in the region, to intensify their efforts to curb the spread of the terrorist threat in the Great Lakes region.

According to Mahamat, there is a " continuous commitment from the African Union to the countries of the Great Lakes region in their fight against terrorism ."

Since the beginning of the month, at least 150 people have been killed in attacks attributed to the ADF, which originated in neighboring Uganda.

The group has been active in eastern DRC for decades and has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, which describes it as its Central African offshoot.

Since late 2021, the Congolese and Ugandan armies have been conducting joint operations against the ADF in North Kivu and the neighboring province of Ituri, without so far managing to put an end to the bloody attacks against civilians.

For decades, the eastern DRC, a country bordering Angola, has been the victim of violence by armed groups.