The DR Congo army freed over 37 hostages captured by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a criminal rebel group operating in the region. The soldiers delivered the captives, among whom were women and children, on Jan. 16, in Beni, North Kivu area of the country.

Mak Hazukay, military spokesperson in the North Kivu province, said the hostages were released during joint operations by the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) and the DR Congo army against the rebels.

The civilian captives had spent nights with the military before they were eventually reintegrated into the community. The president of the Beni civil society, Pepin Kavota, however, called on the population to ensure that the former hostages were not stigmatised after the hard times they passed in captivity.

“We call on the population to receive these former hostages. It would be better not to stigmatise them,” Kavota said, commending the support from the Congolese and Ugandan armies in the ongoing military operations. “To the former hostages, if they perhaps still have contacts with the assailants, we advise them to cut this umbilical cord in the name of the restoration of state authority and peace in the region.”

Since the beginning of the joint military operations between the DR army and the UPDF, code-named ‘Operation Shujaa’, hundreds of hostages have been freed. This last group of freed hostages is composed of civilians who were held in captivity in localities in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.