by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
KINSHASA (Worthy News) – At least 29 civilians, including Christians, have regained their freedom after being held captive by Islamist militants in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities and Christian advocates confirmed.
Their release offered hope to families amid renewed attacks and abductions blamed on the Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), Worthy News monitored Saturday.
The former hostages were reunited with their families Monday, November 2, in the Mambasa area of northeastern Congo’s Ituri province, after joint military operations by Congolese and neighboring Ugandan forces in late October.
However, local United Nations-backed Radio Okapi reported that nearly 50 hostages had escaped or were released in the Malembi forest, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) from Mambasa town. Some reached military positions, while others returned directly to their villages.
The 29 civilians formally reunited with their families were among those freed. Some had been held captive for one or two weeks, while others reportedly spent two to three months in the forests.
SURVIVORS DESCRIBE CAPTIVITY
Survivors described being abducted while harvesting crops, tied up, robbed of their belongings and forced to march between militant camps, sometimes receiving little more than bananas or small portions of food.
“We were in the fields harvesting cassava when the militants suddenly appeared,” one survivor from Biakato told the Congolese news outlet Actualite.cd.
The survivor recalled how hostages were tied up, had their motorcycles confiscated and were forced to sleep on the ground while living under constant threats.
Other former captives said some fellow hostages had died from mistreatment, illness or exhaustion. Those accounts could not be independently verified.
Jean-Baptiste Matadi, the police administrator of Mambasa territory, said authorities were determined to rescue those still being held.
CONGO AUTHORITIES SEEK HOSTAGES
“We, as authorities, together with the defense and security forces, will do everything possible to free those still in the hands of criminals,” the Congolese Press Agency (ACP) quoted him as saying.
Authorities urged the former hostages to cooperate with security forces by reporting suspicious movements and identifying people suspected of involvement in militant activities.
The released civilians also provided information about their captors and detention sites, potentially helping military operations against remaining ADF positions, according to authorities.
Despite the successful rescue operations, local civil society organizations reported that at least nine more civilians had been abducted in the Babila-Bakwanza area, underscoring the continuing insecurity in Ituri province.
The ADF, which originated in neighboring Uganda and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2019, has terrorized communities across eastern Congo for years through killings, kidnappings and attacks on villages, investigators say.
CHRISTIANS FACE ADF ATTACKS
Christians have been among its victims, with militants repeatedly targeting churches and Christian gatherings.
In July 2025, ADF fighters killed more than 40 people during a nighttime gathering at a Catholic church in Komanda, Ituri province, according to rights group Human Rights Watch. Children were also abducted during the massacre.
The violence has continued despite joint military operations by the Congolese army and Uganda’s military, which have sought to weaken the ADF and dismantle its bases in eastern Congo.
A recent investigation by The Sentry, a group examining conflict and corruption, reported that the ADF had benefited from the Congolese government’s focus on fighting the Rwanda-backed M23 rebellion, which diverted military resources and attention away from combating the Islamist militants.
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