At least 69 killed in fresh Ituri violence as CODECO militia retaliate.

At least 69 people have been killed in a fresh wave of violence in the mineral-rich northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, security officials confirmed late Thursday. The deadliest assault, carried out by CODECO militia groups claiming to defend the Lendu ethnic community, struck several villages in Ituri province on April 28. This retaliation followed an earlier attack by the Convention for the Popular Revolution (CRP), a faction led by convicted warlord Thomas Lubanga, which targeted positions held by the Congolese army (FARDC) near Pimbo.

The conflict in Ituri, a border province adjacent to Uganda and South Sudan, has simmered for over three decades as armed factions fight for control of gold, cobalt, copper, uranium, and diamond deposits. The current escalation involves a brutal cycle of reprisals between the Hema and Lendu communities. Dieudonne Losa, a civil society leader, told the AFP news agency that more than 70 individuals perished during the CODECO offensive. Two anonymous security sources corroborated the death toll, specifying that at least 69 people died, including 19 militia fighters and soldiers. The chaos of the fighting delayed the recovery of victims' bodies for several days.

"The presence of CODECO fighters delayed the recovery of the bodies for several days," one source noted. By Saturday, Losa stated that only 25 bodies had been buried, with several sets of remains still unrecovered. A humanitarian source described a grim scene near the village of Bassa, one of the targeted areas, where bodies were "strewn on the ground."

Amid the carnage, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) announced on April 30 that it had rescued nearly 200 civilians caught under fire during the CRP assault on army positions. The mission strongly condemned the recent surge in deadly attacks targeting civilians in the volatile east. In response to the killings, the Ente association, a nonprofit representing the Hema community, characterized the event as a "massacre" and urgently called on its members to refrain from retaliatory violence.

The security situation remains precarious as multiple armed actors vie for dominance. Alongside the CODECO and CRP clashes, the region continues to face threats from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group with ties to ISIL that has pledged allegiance to the terrorist organization. Rawya Rageh, a senior crisis adviser at Amnesty International, told Al Jazeera that Congolese authorities must intensify their efforts to protect civilians. "There are multiple challenges facing the Congolese authorities," Rageh said. "Eastern DRC is a vast area. There are multiple competing actors – M23, ADF, CODECO. With a group like ADF, for example, they capitalise on security gaps. Most of the forces are overstretched responding to the threat from M23." She emphasized that the public expects significantly more from the security forces in such a complex environment.

Amid escalating clashes with the ADF, entire regions are being stripped of military presence as troops are redeployed to other front lines. This strategic withdrawal leaves civilians dangerously exposed to the ADF and other armed factions.