The Congolese army FARDC said on Monday it had launched attacks on bases of rebels and managed to liberate several localities in the region of Mwanga, Lipri and Ngongo.
According to details fetched from our source, these areas were considered the epicentre of the hostilities of the CODECO / FPIC rebel coalition in the Walendu-Datsi sector, in the territory of Djugu in the province of Ituri.
CODECO (Coopérative de développement économique du Congo) CODECO is a coalition of militia founded in the 1970s as a Lendu agricultural cooperative and operating in Ituri.
The group actively participated in the so-called Ituri War, which took place between 1999 and 2003.
At the end of the war, the group did not completely dissolve and stockpiled the weapons used during this conflict in a number of communities.
In 2018, CODECO started engaging in armed attacks again with the objective of defending the Lendu population against the Hema.
According to Army Spokesman Lieutenant Jules Ngongo said that for a week FARDC soldiers have been launching repeated assaults against the various positions of the militiamen.
During these battles on the fronts particularly in the North and South, the loyalist forces, under the command of the military Governor Luboya N’kashama, won a “shattering” victory, by now besieging the bastion of these rebels in the territory of Djugu. .
“81 elements of the armed groups were neutralized including a self-proclaimed rebel leader general and his S4 in the region of Mwanga, 62 other militiamen were also captured. 29 ADF surrendered to the army with 16 weapons, 26 other weapons recovered during the fighting on the North and South fronts. This is the record of the military operations carried out in Ituri during the 2nd phase during this period of the state of siege, ”he told local press.
According to the army, these military offensives against all the armed groups still active in the province of Ituri, aim in particular to “impose peace and restore the authority of the State.
“We must now know that peace will be there,” insisted Lieutenant General Luboya N’kashama, Military Governor of Ituri.
The FARDC soldiers have liberated areas including; Mwanga, Lipri, Ngongo and Lipri.
