Seven people were killed this Monday in an attack at an IDP camp in Djucu, located in the Ituri region’s northeast in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The assault was carried out by individuals identified as members of the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, known as CODECO, a militia with a strong presence in the area. Local sources say gunmen opened fire on civilians, including four women, and those who died were pronounced dead at the scene. Following the attack, elements of the Congolese Army responded, neutralizing six alleged attackers, and several CODECO members who sustained injuries were transported to nearby health facilities for treatment.
Radio Okapi, which has reporters on the ground, confirmed the sequence of events and noted that residents of Djucu expressed profound condemnation of the violence. They stressed that such incidents erode the fragile sense of security in a region already trying to recover from years of conflict and displacement. The community’s leaders and humanitarian actors have echoed calls for protection for civilians and for accountability in the wake of the attack.
CODECO is a militia group largely composed of members from the Lendu community, a demographic bloc that has faced periods of tension with other groups in Ituri. The recent surge in CODECO assaults has already revived memories of the long-running clashes between the Lendu and Hema communities over grazing rights, resources, and political representation. Those confrontations, which spanned from 1999 to 2007, caused tens of thousands of deaths and left many communities displaced, destabilizing an already volatile region. In the wake of the latest incident, regional authorities have underscored the ongoing risk to civilians and the urgent need for a durable security framework that protects vulnerable populations while addressing the underlying grievances that fuel such violence.