25 ADF hostages freed by Congolese and Ugandan armies
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Beto
A coalition of the Congolese army (FARDC) and the Ugandan army (UPDF) has freed 25 hostages held by ADF rebels, mostly women and children. They were presented on 10 November 2026 to the military governor of North Kivu, after being captured during an incursion at Cantine, according to the military authorities.
The coalition formed by the Congolese army (FARDC) and the Ugandan army (UPDF) has freed 25 hostages held by the Islamist Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, according to military authorities cited by Beto. The group, made up overwhelmingly of women and children, was presented on Tuesday 10 November 2026 to the military governor of North Kivu, commander of operations in the region.
According to the military authorities, these people had been captured during the latest ADF incursion at Cantine. Some had been abducted during attacks on their villages, others caught unawares in their fields, which straddle Ituri and North Kivu.
A former hostage told the provincial authorities: "Before experiencing the ADF ordeal, we wondered what the FARDC were for, we were convinced that the army was complicit, but since my captivity I have understood that the FARDC are not in league with these rebels."
The release comes after an attack attributed to the ADF at Cantine, near Beni, which killed 33 civilians according to Beto. It comes amid persistent violence in eastern DR Congo, where the FARDC fought the FRN in three localities of Masisi on 3 November, and where a CRP attack left four dead in Ituri on 30 October.
