U.N. finds no evidence of Islamic State control over Congo militia
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[June 16, 2021]
KINSHASA (Reuters) - United Nations
experts said on Wednesday they had been unable to find evidence of
direct support by Islamic State for an Islamist militia in eastern
Congo, which was blacklisted in March by Washington as a terrorist
group.
Experts on Central Africa have been debating whether the Allied
Democratic Forces (ADF), blamed for increasing violence over the past
two years in eastern Congo, has genuine links with the Islamic State
group based in the Middle East, sometimes known as ISIS or ISIL.
The ADF has publicly aligned itself with Islamic State, which in turn
has claimed responsibility for some of its attacks. The United States
referred to the ADF as "ISIS-DRC" when it added it to its terrorism
blacklist.
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In its latest report, the U.N. Group of Experts on the Congo said the
ADF and Islamic State both benefited from making public statements that
link them with each other. Such statements were "complementing and
amplifying ADF local propaganda, and suggesting increased global reach
for ISIL," the report said.
But it added: "The Group did not however find conclusive evidence of
ISIL command and control over ADF operations, nor of ISIL direct support
to ADF, either financial, human or material."
It found the ADF was getting better at making bombs using expertise from
fighters recruited from East Africa, but that these bombs were used for
"tactical, offensive, defensive and harassment purposes rather than as a
terrorist tool".
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![](../images/061621pics/news_z51.jpg)
Democratic Republic of Congo military personnel (FARDC) patrol
against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and the National Army for
the Liberation of Uganda (NALU) rebels near Beni in North-Kivu
province, December 31, 2013. REUTERS/Kenny Katombe
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The ADF has committed a spate of brutal reprisal
attacks on civilians since the army began operations against it in
late 2019. The group killed around 850 people last year in Congo’s
restive east, according to U.N. figures, and violence has persisted
this year with almost weekly attacks.
The militia has strengthened its reach through recruitment, superior
command over terrain and planting bombs that outstripped the
capabilities of the Congolese army, the experts said.
They advised the Congolese government to improve the army's
intelligence and technical capabilities, while increasing efforts to
negotiate with the group to disengage and disarm.
(Reporting by Hereward Holland; Writing by Alessandra Prentice;
Editing by Peter Graff)
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