This archive report was first published on 1 December 2019.
On December 1, 2019, a crowd in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo lynched two people they suspected of being members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a shadowy armed group linked to Ugandan Islamists.
The killings occurred in the town of Beni, where a UN peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, was visiting to address anti-UN protests that erupted after militia attacks.
According to an AFP journalist, the crowd accused the two people, a man and a woman dressed in civilian clothes, of being ADF members after finding munitions in their bags.
However, the army later revealed that the two were actually an army sergeant, Bahati Sisimbume, and his wife, who were heading to their duty station in Ituri province.
The visit by Lacroix came after another soldier was lynched in Oicha, 30 kilometers north of Beni, by civilians who mistook him for an ADF member.
At least seven people have been killed in clashes during the anti-UN protests this week, and the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been troubled by militia violence for years.
