Seventy Christians were allegedly decapitated by Islamist extremists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) just over a week ago, but the group accused of carrying out the massacre has been terrorizing communities for over a decade.
Known as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), the ISIS-affiliated group is known to have killed dozens of people since 2020 alone.
Where Did ADF Begin?
The insurgent group has Ugandan roots, beginning in 1995 as part of an effort to fight against country's government at the time. Insurgents received some training from the Sudanese government, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
A series of violent attacks followed, including bombings, with dozens injured and at least four killed in the late 1990s. At this point, multiple DRC governments supported the group, which eventually moved to the eastern part of the country to regroup.
Violence linked to the ADF then went quiet in the early 2000s, before escalating again in multiple massacres starting in 2014 in Beni territory, in the North Kivu province of the country.
What Is ADF's Link to ISIS?
In late 2018, ADF was claimed by ISIS as one of its affiliate groups. ISIS claimed responsibility for its attacks from 2019 onwards, according to the U.S. Department of State. Between 2020 and 2023, the department said the group's ISIS-backed actions led to over 159 deaths and dozens of abductions.
In 2021, the U.S. State Department officially designated ADF as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), but the United Nations' experts have said it had been tricky to fully understand ISIS' level of control over the group, despite its taking credit for various ADF attacks.
According to CSIS, the group has increasingly released propaganda aligned with the Islamic State, including the promotion of non-Muslim civilians and life within ADF camps where sharia law is enforced.
Who Funds ADF?
The State Department said in its 2023 report that ADF reportedly funds itself in the DRC, through its control over mines and mineral exports in the region. Some funding has come from ISIS financing groups since around 2017.
The group has reportedly armed itself by seized weapons and ammunition from the Congolese military.
What Happened in the Latest Attack?
On Thursday, militants thought to belong to ADF approached homes in Mayba, in the DRC's Lubero region. They told 20 Christian men and women to get out of their homes and to not make any noise.
When others in the community gathered later, a further 50 were captured by ADF members who surrounded the village, according to Christian charity Open Doors. The group of 70 were taken to a Protestant church, where they were reportedly decapitated one by one.
Open Doors said that threats against Christians have escalated in recent years, with 355 killed in the DRC last year alone.
"Open Doors strongly condemns this heinous act of violence against civilians and calls upon civil societies, governments and international organizations to prioritize civilian protection in eastern DRC where armed groups, such as the ADF, are operating," John Samuel, Open Doors' legal expert for the work in sub-Saharan Africa, said in a press release.
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