CODECO attacks three villages and displaces families in Ituri
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Kivumorningpost
CODECO militiamen attacked three villages in the Sombuso groupement, in Djugu territory, Ituri, on Sunday 25 October 2026, burning houses and looting livestock, according to local civil society leader Charité Banza. Several families fled towards the shores of Lake Albert or Uganda, while no deaths had been reported at the time of his testimony.
Armed men locally identified as CODECO militiamen attacked the villages of Gobu, Muganga and Musekere on Sunday 25 October, in the Sombuso groupement in Djugu territory, Ituri. They burned houses and looted livestock, according to Charité Banza, the head of the local civil society organisation.
The attack, which took place at around 4am, forced several families to flee to areas along Lake Albert or cross the border into Uganda. Women, men, children and elderly people were among those displaced, according to civil society. No deaths had been reported at the time of the testimony, while the material damage was still being assessed.
The attacks come amid civilian displacement linked to violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On 24 October, thousands of people had fled the fighting towards Rurambo, in South Kivu, according to an earlier displacement report.
