Forty-three former hostages of rebels freed by the armies of DR Congo and Uganda have returned to civilian life, the Congolese army told AFP on Wednesday.
The armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday held a ceremony for the 43 civilians – who include 16 women and 24 children – in the eastern city of Beni.
They were released around six months ago in a joint Congolese-Ugandan military operation, after being captured by members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), lieutenant-colonel Mak Hazukay, spokesperson for the Congolese army in North Kivu, said.
A civil society organisation will support the adults, while the United Nations mission in the DRC was entrusted with the minors to help them readapt to civilian life.
Rehabilitation
"The services had to triage and separate them in order to officially hand them over to suitable institutions for rehabilitation," Hazukay said.
The ADF, originally Ugandan rebels, has established a presence over three decades in eastern DRC, killing thousands of civilians.
Kampala and Kinshasa in late 2021 launched an offensive against the ADF in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and Ituri but have so far failed to stop the deadly attacks on civilians and defeat the group.
The militia in June was blamed for attacks that killed some 150 people. For 30 years, DRC's mineral-rich east has suffered from the ravages of fighting between local and foreign armed groups, dating back to the regional wars of the 1990s.
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