Monitoring Desk
NEW YORK: UNICEF on Friday urged for the immediate release of 13 children who were kidnapped during a deadly attack in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo this month.
In a statement, the United Nations children’s agency said two girls and 11 boys were believed to have been abducted by an armed group during an attack on a suburb village in North Kivu province.
“UNICEF, which denounces the kidnapping, is concerned that the abducted minors are being inhumanely treated and is demanding their immediate release,” the UN body said.
On January 22 this year, suspected Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militants killed at least 23 people during an ambush on the village of Makugwe and abducted several people.
UNICEF about abducted children
The ADF is the deadliest armed group in eastern DR Cono, a volatile region plagued by violence for decades.
The armed group (which ISIS has claimed as its central African affiliate) has been accused of murdering thousands of civilians and carrying out bomb blasts in Uganda.
Over 120 other armed groups in eastern DR Congo, including the M23 rebels, which the UN, Kinshasa, and the European Union have said are being backed by Rwanda.
Read Also: Militants Kill 23 in Eastern DR Congo Attack
In 2021, the United States (US) officially linked the ADF to ISIL and added it to its list of foreign “terrorist” organizations.
On January 15, suspected ADF militants also detonated a bomb in a church in North Kivu. The bomb blast killed at least 14 people and 63 others were injured.
