MxM News

Quick Hit:

Seventy Christians were brutally murdered by jihadists affiliated with ISIS in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The victims were forced into a Protestant church and beheaded, marking one of the deadliest attacks on Christians in the region.

Key Details:

• The attack occurred on February 13 in the town of Kasanga, where members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), linked to ISIS, rounded up villagers and executed them inside a Protestant church.
• Open Doors UK, a human rights organization, reported that the ADF targeted 70 Christian villages, leaving families too terrified to bury their dead for a week.
• The international community has largely ignored the atrocity, with few public statements condemning the violence, except from Hungary’s State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians, Tristan Azbej.

Diving Deeper:

Open Doors UK revealed that the massacre took place when the ADF militants surrounded the village of Maybe, forcibly removing residents from their homes. The 70 Christian villagers were herded into an abandoned Protestant church in Kasanga and systematically executed by beheading. The church had been previously deserted due to escalating security threats in the area.

The ADF, an Islamist militant group linked to ISIS, has been responsible for numerous violent attacks across northeastern DRC. Their objective is to overthrow the governments of the DRC and Uganda to establish a caliphate, similar to the one ISIS formed in Syria and Iraq. The group has intensified its activities in the mineral-rich North Kivu province, killing at least 200 people in the past month alone.

The aftermath of the attack has left surviving Christians in fear, prompting many to flee the region. A church elder from CECA-20, the Evangelical Community in Central Africa, expressed despair, stating, “We don’t know what to do or how to pray. We’ve had enough of massacres. May God’s will alone be done.”

Open Doors UK strongly condemned the attack, urging governments and international organizations to prioritize civilian protection in eastern DRC. Despite the magnitude of the atrocity, international media coverage has been minimal. Social media users have criticized the lack of global attention to the incident.

Hungary’s State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians, Tristan Azbej, was one of the few international figures to respond publicly. He expressed horror at the killings, calling the victims “Christian martyrs” and emphasizing the need for global recognition and action against Christian persecution.

The violence underscores the ongoing security crisis in the DRC, where numerous militant groups, including the ADF, continue to vie for control over the region’s valuable mineral resources. As the humanitarian situation worsens, the international community faces growing pressure to respond to the escalating persecution of Christians in the region.