This archive report was first published on 4 May 2021.
DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi has taken drastic measures to address the growing insecurity in the eastern part of the country. On April 30, 2021, he declared a state of siege in North Kivu and Ituri, replacing all civilian authorities with the military and police for 30 days.
According to the president's order, the civil courts and tribunals will transfer their jurisdiction to military courts during the period of the state of siege. This decision was made in accordance with article 85 of the Constitution, which allows the president to proclaim a state of emergency or state of siege when serious circumstances threaten the independence or integrity of the national territory.
The state of siege was initially decreed for 30 days, but it can be extended by parliament for a period of 15 days. President Tshisekedi has been promising radical measures to eradicate insecurity in the eastern part of the DRC, where North Kivu and Ituri are regularly the scene of bloody attacks attributed to armed groups and terrorist movements.
Since January 2021, attacks attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have caused the death of nearly 200 people, injured dozens more, and displaced an estimated 40,000 people within Beni territory, North Kivu province, as well as neighbouring villages within Ituri province.
"In less than three months, the ADF armed group carried out attacks on 25 villages, torched dozens of houses and kidnapped more than 70 people," says Babar Baloch, spokesperson for the High Commissioner for Refugees. These figures add to the 465 Congolese massacred in attacks attributed to the ADF armed group in 2020.
