Since Monday June 19, clashes have pitted the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) against fighters from the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO), in the village of Kalisha near the Bule commercial center, in the Djugu territory (Ituri).

According to security sources in Djugu, early on Monday, CODECO militiamen attacked an army position, setting it on fire. Clashes between the two sides ensued.

According to the same sources, CODECO militiamen reoccupied the villages of Petro, Zaba and Golo, where they had been dislodged by the FARDC on Saturday June 17, during clashes between the two sides.

These fighters took advantage of the vacuum left by the FARDC after their withdrawal from these villages, On Saturday morning June 17, the FARDC launched an offensive against the CODECO armed group in the village of Petro and its outskirts, in the Djugu territory, according to military sources.

A clear source from the army added that, At least seven localities occupied by this militia had been recaptured by the Congolese army,.

The FARDC spokesman in Ituri had specified that the aim of this offensive was to put an end to the activism of this armed group, cited in last week’s killing of 46 displaced persons at the Lala site.