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Villagers had been preparing for an ordinary night. Instead, they awoke to gunfire, flames, and the frantic cries of neighbors. By dawn, at least 28 bodies had been recovered from Makuta and Django—two districts whose names now mark the latest chapter of a tragedy that has become routine in Congo’s eastern provinces
(ZENIT News / North Kivu, 11.19.2025).- The village of Byambwe, scattered among the green hills of North Kivu, has long survived on a fragile equilibrium: small farms, quiet parishes, missionary clinics, and a population accustomed to living on the edge of an unpredictable conflict. But on the night of 14–15 November, that fragile equilibrium was shattered once more, when armed men descended on the parish of St. Paul and left behind scenes so brutal that local clergy could scarcely find the words to describe them.
Villagers had been preparing for an ordinary night. Instead, they awoke to gunfire, flames, and the frantic cries of neighbors. By dawn, at least 28 bodies had been recovered from Makuta and Django—two districts whose names now mark the latest chapter of a tragedy that has become routine in Congo’s eastern provinces. Among the dead were sixteen women, including a young girl, and twelve men, two of them minors. The majority were killed in their homes, cut down while trying to flee.
For Father Katsere Gislain, pastor of St. Paul’s, the devastation was immediate and disorienting. Speaking to Vatican Radio, he struggled to identify a motive for the attack. “We do not know their reasons. That is the question everyone is asking,” he said. The attackers are believed to be militants of the ADF-NALU, a group with a history of targeting civilians and a reputation for moving swiftly from village to village, leaving few survivors. Their presence in the region is a constant shadow—visible, feared, rarely stopped.
Continued below.
Muslim groups commit massacre of Christians in Congo: nearly 30 dead | ZENIT - English
(ZENIT News / North Kivu, 11.19.2025).- The village of Byambwe, scattered among the green hills of North Kivu, has long survived on a fragile equilibrium: small farms, quiet parishes, missionary clinics, and a population accustomed to living on the edge of an unpredictable conflict. But on the night of 14–15 November, that fragile equilibrium was shattered once more, when armed men descended on the parish of St. Paul and left behind scenes so brutal that local clergy could scarcely find the words to describe them.
Villagers had been preparing for an ordinary night. Instead, they awoke to gunfire, flames, and the frantic cries of neighbors. By dawn, at least 28 bodies had been recovered from Makuta and Django—two districts whose names now mark the latest chapter of a tragedy that has become routine in Congo’s eastern provinces. Among the dead were sixteen women, including a young girl, and twelve men, two of them minors. The majority were killed in their homes, cut down while trying to flee.
For Father Katsere Gislain, pastor of St. Paul’s, the devastation was immediate and disorienting. Speaking to Vatican Radio, he struggled to identify a motive for the attack. “We do not know their reasons. That is the question everyone is asking,” he said. The attackers are believed to be militants of the ADF-NALU, a group with a history of targeting civilians and a reputation for moving swiftly from village to village, leaving few survivors. Their presence in the region is a constant shadow—visible, feared, rarely stopped.
Continued below.
Muslim groups commit massacre of Christians in Congo: nearly 30 dead | ZENIT - English
