20 people die in a militia attack in restive northeastern Congo

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - A militia attack killed over a dozen villagers in northeastern Congo, local authorities said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of violent assaults targeting civilians.

Eastern Congo has been torn by decadelong fighting between government forces and more than 120 armed groups, often involving bombs targeting civilians as the militias seek a share of the region's gold and other resources. Violence in the region has worsened in recent months as security forces battle the militias.

Rebels from the Cooperative for the Diversion of Congo, or CODECO, killed at least 20 people with firearms and machetes in Fataki, a village in the territory of Djugu, the head of local administration Jean-Marie Makpela said. During Tuesday’s attack, houses were set on fire and material goods stolen, as rebels looted mattresses from a local medical facility, he added.

"We call on the authorities of the province of Ituri to help put an end to this repeated tragedy because it is not normal that people die, without anything being done," said Dieudonné Lossa, coordinator of civil society in the region.

CODECO is a loose association of militia groups mainly from the ethnic Lendu farming community. The group’s attacks killed nearly 1,800 people and wounded more than 500 in the four years through 2022, according to the African Center for the Study and Research on Terrorism.

The United Nations has said some of the attacks could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Last May, a convoy of humanitarians was ambushed by CODECO rebels while returning from localities in Djugu where they identified displaced people as part of an assistance project. They were later released but all the supplies they had with them were stolen.