At least 16 people, for the most part civilians, were killed in an attack by Ugandan rebels of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) in the Haut-Uélé district, in the Orientale Province in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The news was reported by Radio Okapi, citing sources of the Diocesan commission of justice and peace and the civil society. Based on a reconstruction by the same sources, on 13 and 14 November some people were attacked while headed to the work in the fields in an area between Nagilima (45km from Dungu) and the Matanga village; a short time later the bodies of four civilians and two soldiers were found, while those of another 10 missing people were discovered by residents of the area in the past four days.
The attack already caused many civilians to flee the area: some thirty families arrived in Dungu, while others fled to Kakade and Nangwe, 50km from Ngilima.
The LRA rebels, who fled Uganda after peace negotiations that never led to the signing of an accord, crossed into the neighbouring DR-Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, terrorising the local populations of rural areas, attacking villages and abducting women and children. Last Thursday a group of 12 rebels surrendered a group of 12 children, handed over to the Comboni missionaries. [BO]
