Beni Massacre (2016)
The Beni Massacre, which took place in August 2016 in Beni, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was a tragic event marked by extreme violence. Attributed primarily to the rebel group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), the attack resulted in the deaths of an estimated fifty to one hundred individuals, with many residents still reported missing afterwards. This incident was part of a broader pattern of violence in the region, where over seven hundred people had been killed between 2014 and 2016 due to various armed assaults.
The massacre occurred on August 14 when militants attacked the Rwangoma neighborhood, using machetes to indiscriminately kill men, women, and children. The DRC government quickly blamed the ADF, although previous reports suggested possible involvement of government forces in similar attacks. The socio-political context includes ongoing instability in the DRC due to numerous rebel factions and ethnic militias, as well as historical tensions exacerbated by the Second Congolese War.
In the aftermath of the massacre, a trial was initiated for six suspected ADF members, drawing public attention and protests demanding better security and accountability for the violence. The event underlined the complexities of conflict in North Kivu and the challenges faced by both the local population and the government in addressing ongoing threats to peace and safety.
Beni Massacre (2016)
Date: August 14, 2016
Place: Beni, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Summary
The Beni massacre was a mass killing that occurred in August 2016 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Beni, a city in the province of North Kivu. The rebel group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) was suspected of being responsible for the attack, which was the latest of a series of violent attacks in Beni killing over seven hundred between 2014 and 2016. Estimates on the number killed in the 2016 Beni massacre varied between fifty and one hundred, though none of the estimates was believed to be exact, as numerous residents involved in the incident were still missing.
Key Events
- August 8, 2016—More than fourteen soldiers and civilians killed around North Kivu in attacks by armed groups, just days after DRC president Joseph Kabila left the area.
- August 14, 2016—Scores killed in Beni, mostly with machetes, in an attack attributed by the government to ADF rebels.
Status
On August 20, 2016, six alleged members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) suspected of the August 14 attack in Beni were brought to trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). No details were released to the press regarding the identities of the individuals, but hundreds gathered near the courthouse in North Kivu where the trial was held. While the government has maintained that the ADF was responsible for the killings in Beni and the surrounding area in recent years, a March 2016 report from the Congo Research Group at New York University suggested that members of the DRC army have also been involved in killings that took place in the region. The August 14 massacre was one of a series of massacres in the North Kivu region since 2014, during which time between 700 and 1,200 are estimated to have been killed or kidnapped, and thousands have been displaced from their homes or villages. Around Beni specifically, an estimated five hundred have been killed since late 2014.
In-Depth Overview
Since the end of the Second Congolese War (1998–2003) the DRC has suffered near continual attacks from numerous rebel groups, some representing the interests of local ethnic groups or villages (locally known as Mai-Mai militias), others allied with Islamic terrorist organizations such as Boko Haram and al-Shabaab.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) is a Ugandan rebel group that emerged in 1996 and has been primarily active in the Ruwenzori Mountains between North Kivu and Uganda. The group was founded by Jamil Mukulu, an Islamic convert who sought to overthrow the Ugandan government of Yoweri Museveni and to establish an Islamic caliphate in the region. Mukulu was arrested in April 2015 in Tanzania and extradited to Uganda to face charges; he remained in detention there as of late 2016. The ADF suffered losses in 2015 after a new offensive from the DRC military with support from the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known as MONUSCO, which has been active in the region since 1999. According to MONUSCO, the ADF numbered around five hundred in late 2015 but had been difficult to combat, as the ADF’s investment in illegal mining provides the group with extensive resources.
In the evening of August 14, an unknown group of militants attacked the Rwangoma neighborhood on the outskirts of Beni, primarily armed with machetes, and reportedly hacking men, women, and children to death in the streets and in their homes. Initial reports indicated that at least thirty-six people had been killed in the attack. However, as aid workers and DRC military visited the neighborhood to assess the situation, they discovered more bodies, and numerous residents were reported still missing. An article published on Aljazeera claimed that sixty-four bodies had been recovered, but that a search was ongoing.
Army spokesman Mak Hazukay gave a press statement alleging that the attack was carried out by the ADF, though other observers noted that similar attacks have been carried out by the region’s ethnic Mai-Mai militia groups and by the terrorist organization Boko Haram. Hazukay told reporters that the government believed the attacks were in retribution for recent government attacks on ADF targets. The same day of the attack, a group of more than one hundred residents gathered in Beni to mourn those killed and to call for more aggressive government efforts to protect citizens. Some of the protestors blamed President Joseph Kabila, who had visited Beni three days before the attack, believing that Kabila’s presence in the area motivated the massacre. Still others have alleged government complicity in the attacks, noting that the attackers had to pass right by army positions to get to Rwangoma. Independent observers such as Human Rights Watch have said that some attacks in North Kivu blamed on the ADF may in fact have involved DRC forces; or, at minimum, DRC forces have done nothing to stop the attacks. Government spokesman Lambert Mende announced a three-day period of mourning following the Beni attack.
Key Figures
Joseph Kabila: President of the DRC.
Bibliography
Bahati, L. (2016, August 19). Protests in Beni, DRC against massacres. Africanews. Retrieved from http://www.africanews.com/2016/08/19/protests-in-beni-drc-against-massacres/
Buchanan, E. (2016, August 16). Pope Francis slams "shameful silence" of international community on Beni massacres in DRC. International Business Times. Retrieved from http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/drc-pope-francis-slams-shameful-silence-international-community-light-beni-massacres-1576261
DR Congo: Protect civilians in Beni from attack. (2016, October 7). Human Rights Watch. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/10/07/dr-congo-protect-civilians-beni-attack
Gaffey, C. (2015, December 2). DR Congo: What is the ADF, the Ugandan rebel group hacking civilians to death? Newsweek. Retrieved from http://www.newsweek.com/dr-congo-who-are-adf-ugandan-rebels-hacking-civilians-death-399889
Gaffey, C. (2016, August 15). DR Congo: Ugandan rebels blamed for Beni massacre, killing at least 30. Newsweek. Retrieved from http://www.newsweek.com/dr-congo-ugandan-rebels-blamed-beni-massacre-killing-least-30-490304
Scores "hacked to death" in machete attack in DR Congo. (2016, August 14). Aljazeera. Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/scores-hacked-death-machete-attack-dr-congo-160814133550565.html
Thirty-six people are killed in DRC in "revenge" attack by ADF rebels. (2016, August 14). The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/14/thirty-six-people-are-killed-in-drc-in-revenge-attack-by-adf-rebels