Description: Militants from the Islamic State – affiliated Allied Democratic Forces, killed more than 100 civilians attending a funeral in east DRC’s Ntoyo village. According to witness reports, ADF militants used machetes and guns to mutilate the civilians, while the Congolese army was late in the dispatch call due to security concerns in the eastern parts of the country caused by the M23 rebels. The ADF primarily operated in neighboring Uganda, however, the war in the mineral rich eastern DRC between the country’s military and the rebels has created a power vacuum which is heavily exploited by the terrorist group. The ADF or Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP), also conducted attacks on multiple villages and a church where more than 100 people were killed in the past couple of months.
Impact: With the US – brokered peace agreement degraded in practice, terrorist groups such as the ADF would rapidly emerge in the destabilized region as an influential force. The DRC’s depleted security and defense capacities are strained between ground conflicts with the M23 rebels and joint operations with Uganda countering the ADF in the border regions which demonstrates the country’s lack of capability to effectively combat high – level threats such as terrorism and large – scale insurgencies. The peace platform between the DRC’s government and the M23 rebels is practically non – existent without international security guarantees such as peacekeeping troops, weapons and logistical supplies and intelligence. Terrorist attacks in the upcoming period would be on the rise as defense and security forces struggle with limited capacities and several security hotbeds across the country’s eastern border.