Women on a maternity ward were among 89 civilians killed in a week-long spate of Islamist rebel attacks in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations mission in the country said on Friday (November 21, 2025).
A number of armed groups and militia are operating in the conflict-wracked region, including Rwanda-backed anti-government M23 forces, which seized swathes of territory in North and South Kivu in January and February.
North of the M23’s area of operation, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group of former Ugandan rebels which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, has been carrying out repeated massacres in both provinces.
The MONUSCO mission said in a statement that the ADF waged “particularly deadly” attacks between November 13 and 19 at several locations around the Lubero area in North Kivu.
“The attacks in the Bapere and Baswagha (chiefdoms) have resulted in the killing of 89 civilians, including at least 20 women and an as yet undetermined number of children,” it added.
