Brutal attacks on Christians in Congo

By Ariana Erickson –

Extremist Muslim militia on the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of Congo killed 89 Christians with machetes and gunshots in recent months, as totaled by the United Nations.

In one attack in September, militants of the Allied Democratic Forces attacked a funeral service and unleashed indiscriminate mayhem in the villages of  Ntoyo and Potodu of the North Kivu province.

“The ADF arrived in Potodu,” says Pastor Paluku. “They killed Christian farmers who were camped in their farms and those who were returning. It is a night of sadness and desolation for Christians.”

Rev. Alili was desperate: “The massacres are weakening the faith of Christians. Last month it was still massacre after massacre, and in September. Lord, please come to our aid.”  

Then in November, ADF rebels struck a Catholic hospital in Byambwe killing patients and others.

“What is most tragic beyond the sheer number of innocent victims is the way they kill,” said Fr. Giovanni Piumatti, an Italian priest who served for over 50 years as a missionary in the Congolese Diocese of Butembo-Beni. “They slit civilians’ throats, decapitate them. They killed mothers as they were breastfeeding their babies. These massacres are beyond imagination, and they happen almost every week. Many go unreported.”

The attacks defy comprehension. The ADF (which even though it calls itself “democratic,” of democracy it has nothing) is an ISIS affiliate that failed to take over neighboring Uganda and took refuge in the North Kivu province, where they look to take over and exploit the regions riches in minerals. But why the systematic slaughter of terror?

The ADF is the most ferocious of the 100 or so militant groups fighting to get the resources of the region. The region has been scourged with growing barbarity.

In August, ADF and IS Central Africa Province massacred 50+ people in villages around Oicha in North Kivu.

In July, the ADF murdered 43–50 civilians in a church prayer vigil in the Saint Anuarite Catholic Church in Komanda village of the Ituri province.

In February, ADF abducted and beheaded 70 Christians from the Protestant CECA 20 Church in the Mabya and Kasanga villages.

In June of 2024, ADF conducted a series of raids against Christians in multiple villages, tallying 80 deaths.

In January of 2023, the ADF exploded a bomb in Pentecostal church in Kasindi, near the Ugandan border. They killed 17 and injured 39.

Do people around the world care?  “The world’s silence is profoundly troubling,” says Piumatti.

Related content: the most dangerous country to live in for Christians, the world doesn’t care about the genocide of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa, fearless missionary in dangerous Sahel. Sources: Premier Christianity, Reuters, Vatican News, Open Doors UK, others.