Commemorating the first massacre of people in Beni North Kivu-DRC

Commemorating the first big massacre of civilians in Beni, North Kivu, the Democratic Republic of Congo which occurred on 15^th October 2014.

We shall commemorate this event here in Kinshasa on Thursday October 15^th, 2026 starting at 9am in the Conference Room of the National Human Rights Commission known as CNDH.

On the very night of October 15^th, 20214 more than 150 people were massacred in Beni by Allied Democratic Forces known as ADF, they all slept well and none among them knew what will happen at night, suddenly people were slaughtered on their beds. The survivors are still there left alone nursing their wounds and psychologically in pieces.

Since then, massacres of civilians have continued in Beni up to now by the very ADF present in the area and have also extended in Ituri where different territories have been affected. We do not know the exact number of people who have been massacred but they amount in thousands now.

Actually the whole month of October is a month of commemoration in the Democratic Republic of Congo because different events happened in October since 1996 up today, we cannot list all these ugly events but here are some:

In South Kivu Province October is marked by various events:

Three vocal Catholic Bishops were killed in October mainly: Christopher Muzihirwa in October 1996, Emmanuel Kataliko in October 2000, Charles Chimbowa October 2004.

The very first massacre of Rwandan Refugees happened in October in Lemera Village South Kivu when their refugee camp was attacked by Rwandan Army in 1996.

With all these events which in our view should not be ignored and should not go unnoticed, we have planned the Commemoration of the Massacre of Beni which will also be an opportunity to talk about all these other incidents. This is part of Memory and part of our history which we should not forget, yet many Congolese may not know very well what happened during this month of October, especially young people who may live in ignorance and be tempted to make the same mistakes.

Memorial is part of our involvement in the Transitional Justice approach and part of our peace approach. It is important to know who did these and why these happened that also includes truth telling and then seek for reparation and commitment for non- repetition.

However the situation in Beni is not changing the massacres against civilians continue, this is the time also to engage and advocate to the DRC Government to do more in order to ensure the security of people. We have criticized the security approach in Eastern DRC and we shall continue calling upon the Government to put in place some innovations which can effectively ensure each persons is well protected.