A Congo Army (FARDC) soldier has been murdered by elements of the local Wazalendo militia groups who are supposedly supporting the army at the war-front in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Wazalendo have been recruited by President Félix Tshisekedi to assist the FARDC in the ongoing war with the M23 rebels in South Kivu Province.
However, the Wazalendo have turned against the Congolese army as they are now plundering minerals which they export through neighbouring countries.
In a tragic incident which transpired on Tuesday, Wazalendo elements murdered a FARDC soldier who attempted to stop the unruly militia from trafficking minerals out of Congolese territory in Kalehe of South Kivu Province.
“There was a clash between a Wazalendo and an element of the FARDC from the Hibou company in Minova. The Wazalendo killed this soldier with his weapon. The soldier was taken to the hospital where he died,” Damien Mushumo, president of the New Dynamics of Civil Society in Minova, declared.
In recent weeks, the Kalehe as well as other surrounding territories has recorded numerous cases of killings and assassinations of soldiers by the Wazalendo with the situation now worrying for local civic structures.
