KINSHASA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A new wave of attacks attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group affiliated with the Islamic State Central Africa Province, has laid bare a deeper security crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Four years after the DRC and Uganda launched a joint military campaign against the rebels, frontlines have multiplied, civilians' confidence has dimmed, and unrest persists.
WIDENING WAVE OF ATTACKS
In Beni territory in North Kivu Province and Mambasa territory in Ituri Province, two frequent targets of ADF violence, fatal attacks have recently been reported despite the presence of the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) and the Uganda Peoples' Defense Forces.
In a report published in January, the Congo Research Group, an independent research project, and Ebuteli, a Congolese research institute, reported a "strategic and territorial recomposition" of the ADF in eastern DRC, marked by the group's expansion beyond its historic strongholds around Beni.
Meanwhile, in Makumo of Ituri's Mambasa territory, devastation was visible on Monday morning after an overnight attack blamed on the rebels triggered panic among residents.
"There is crying everywhere. Families are still searching for missing relatives. Nine bodies have already been recovered, but searches are continuing in the forest," Serge Mapamboli, a Mambasa resident, told Xinhua.
A few days earlier, at least 30 civilians were killed in less than 48 hours in attacks targeting several villages between North Kivu and Ituri, with several others still missing, according to local sources reached by Xinhua.
Since the beginning of the year, ADF-linked attacks have intensified in parts of Ituri and North Kivu, notably around Mambasa, Irumu and Beni territories, targeting isolated villages, roads, shops and households.
"We sleep in the bush almost every night because nobody feels safe here anymore," said Suzanne Kasoki, a mother interviewed near Biakato, a locality in Mambasa. "Even the fields have been abandoned. People are afraid of being killed while farming."
A trader in Makumo said he lost his belongings in a recent attack. "The rebels burned down my storage depot and several shops in the town center. Today, we no longer know how to survive," he said.
NO TURNING POINT YET
In November 2021, the cross-border Operation Shujaa was launched with the backing of DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni to pursue the ADF, a Ugandan rebel group operating in eastern DRC.
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, Uganda further reinforced its military presence in eastern DRC in February 2025 by sending around 1,000 additional troops under Operation Shujaa, bringing the Ugandan deployment to about 5,000 personnel.
Kayanja Muhanga, then the main Ugandan frontline commander of Operation Shujaa, told Xinhua in 2021 that Congolese and Ugandan forces intended to destroy the ADF "once and for all."
He said the two armies would pursue "the enemy everywhere through its hiding places in areas that have been under threat for decades" to restore "lasting peace and commercial activities" in eastern DRC.
More than four years later, the ADF still retains significant operational capacity. The group, linked to the Islamic State Central Africa Province, continues to attack civilians and, at times, military positions in North Kivu and Ituri.
That assessment echoes findings by the Congo Research Group and Ebuteli, which said that Operation Shujaa has weakened some ADF positions without neutralizing the group's core leadership, prompting parts of the movement to redeploy beyond their traditional strongholds.
The Institute for Security Studies also said in 2025 that the Congolese army's focus on the crisis triggered by the March 23 Movement (M23) rebellion weakened security capacity elsewhere and created gaps that the ADF exploited to expand operations in eastern DRC.
The situation is further complicated by overlapping conflicts across eastern DRC. In North Kivu and South Kivu, fighting involving the M23 has disrupted provincial security arrangements, while in Ituri, other armed groups remain active.
MULTIPLE FRONTS, ERODING TRUST
In Ituri, violence is not confined to the ADF. Other local armed groups, including the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, have also destabilized the province.
Authorities have also accused the Convention for the Popular Revolution, a movement associated with former warlord Thomas Lubanga, the first person ever convicted by the International Criminal Court, of involvement in some recent violence.
The multiplication of armed fronts has complicated military operations and deepened a sense of abandonment among civilians, as the FARDC faces the ADF threat, communal violence in Ituri, and the M23 crisis in North Kivu simultaneously.
Ituri military governor Johnny Luboya has reiterated that the army is pursuing operations against armed groups active in the province, while some residents accuse Kinshasa of paying more attention to the M23 crisis than to the persistent ADF threat.
For many residents of Beni and Ituri, the lack of decisive results after years of military operations has fueled growing doubt and fear.
"Before, attacks were limited to certain areas. Today, nobody knows where the ADF may strike tomorrow," said Papy Mumbere, a teacher displaced from Mambasa. ■