Over 100 women and children were slaughtered in a wave of brutal attacks in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last week, it has been confirmed to Christian Today.
Four villages near the town of Beni in the North Kivu province were attacked by machete-wielding militants on Thursday, though it is not yet known who perpetrated the violence.
There is some speculation that the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) is behind the attack - the mainly Muslim Ugandan rebel group has been blamed by Government officials for killing over 200 civilians in the region since October. However this is unconfirmed, as no group has as yet taken responsibility.
David McAllister, country director for Tearfund who was in the region the day before the latest attack, said: "Certainly more than 100 women and children were very, very brutally massacred, not with guns but with machetes and axes. It was very horrific, and it has had a huge traumatic effect on the population.
"The Congolese people, who have suffered so much over the years, are very traumatised by these recent attacks because of the severity and brutality. You can imagine that these are people whose resilience is quite high due to many years of violence, attack and rape, are they are traumatised by the level of violence and injuries in one day."
McAllister received confirmation today that a "major offensive" against rebel groups has been launched by the Congolese National Army, and both have as a result "sustained heavy losses".
However, "no one knows exactly who is behind this attack, a rebel group hasn't claimed responsibility which they normally do. Whoever is behind it has not made themselves known, and the level of brutality has completely rocked this population which doesn't know why it's happening," he said.
A separate attack in another region of DRC three weeks ago saw women in a rural village raped before being brutally murdered. Aditionally, 40 women were kidnapped and likely sold into sex slavery by the Mai-Mai rebel group. McAllister explained that no one knows where these women are now, but that they may well now be forced into selling themselves in the diamond camps.
Tearfund is on the ground and working to help those who survived the attack near Beni by providing food and clothing to those who have been displaced. It is also running sex and gender based violence programmes, which teach churches how to identify and help women at risk.
He said it's likely that the violence in the DRC will continue. "Everybody knows it's going to be ongoing, there is no solution in sight, politically or militarily," he said.
"We don't know who the enemy really is, or what's happening...I'm afraid to say that I'd put money on the fact that this will continue, and there will be more killings."
Historically a fractured nation, the DRC has been beset by violence for decades. Despite peace agreements, violence is rife, particularly in the eastern regions.
