Makugwe massacre

The Allied Democratic Forces are a Ugandan Islamist group who began an insurgency in 1996. It spread to the DRC and intensified during the 2010s. Their attacks in North Kivu include a massacre in Beni in 2016. During the late 2010s, the group forged close links to the Islamic State. They bombed a church in Kasindi, North Kivu on 15 January 2023.

On the evening of 22 January 2023, the Allied Democratic Forces killed between 17 and 24 people in Makugwe, a village near Beni, North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.^[1] The massacre occurred at a bar; the insurgents also looted and set fire to several homes and shops, and kidnapped several people.^[1] Provincial deputy Saidi Balikwisha, who was in Makugwe during the attack, claimed the death toll to be 23 and stated at least 3 others were reported missing.^[2][3] On 23 January, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.