Three Christian aid workers killed in Africa

Three employees with Swiss Church Aid died last week after attackers targeted their humanitarian mission in the North Kivu region. The province is on the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern border with Uganda and Rwanda. The Swiss protestant churches’ aid organization, known as HEKS/EPER, last week condemned the violence and suspended all project activities in the region while it tried to obtain details about the attack.

Meanwhile, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Saturday also condemned the attack and encouraged local authorities to investigate the incident. Violence against aid workers violates international humanitarian law, he said. Authorities have not identified a group or individuals behind the violence.

What is happening in the region now? Rebel fighters in January claimed the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern city of Goma in a major escalation of ongoing conflict. The fighting dates back to a 2012 rebellion, according to the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations. The Rwanda-backed rebel group called M23 is one of some 100 rebel groups active in the region. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri, according to the UN.

Millions of people in the country are facing malnutrition and food insecurity as a result of the fighting, according to Save the Children. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week called for mediation efforts to end the violence. Thousands of United Nations Peacekeeping forces have been deployed in the Congo for decades amid ongoing conflicts.

Dig deeper: Read Onize Oduah’s report about the escalating border war.