According to the United Nations, more than 200 people have been killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since January. A further 40 000 are estimated to have been displaced in attacks.  According to Al Jazeera armed groups affiliated to ISIS have been carrying out the attacks.

There has been an “alarming increase”, reported by the UN refugee agency on Friday, in attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces. The group is historically Ugandan, but has been present in eastern DRC since 1995. UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said, “In less than three months, the ADF has allegedly raided 25 villages, set fire to dozens of houses and kidnapped over 70 people.”

Al Jazeera reports that the ADF is notorious for being the bloodiest of the more than 120 militias present in the eastern DRC, with an estimated 465 people killed by the group last year. More than 1 200 were killed in the Beni area alone since 2017. Of those forcibly displaced this past month, the majority, according to Baloch, “are women and children, as men stay behind to protect properties, exposing themselves to the risk of further attacks.”

Meanwhile, UNHCR figures show that even before the recent mass displacement, there were already 100 000 internally displaced people in need of shelter and protection in Beni.

Umm Muhammed Umar