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Militia in DR Congo have massacred 46 Pygmies, local sources said on Friday.

The massacre took place in eastern Ituri province, with reports saying it was carried out by the notorious Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia.

“ADF rebels overran the village of Abembi” local NGO leader Gili Gotabo said. “Forty-six people died and two were wounded, all of them from the Pygmy community.”

The province’s interior minister, Adjio Gigi, confirmed the toll and also blamed the ADF, which has been accused of hundreds of killings in the past year.

Adams Cassinga, Conserv Congo founder and wildlife activist, tweeted that the victims were all found beheaded.

He wrote: "46 pygmies have been found beheaded by presumed ADF rebels in the village of Abembi, Ituri province.

"The first citizens of the Congo basin are in dire need of international and national protection now more than ever. From being evicted from their land to being Direct hit of armed groups!"

The Ugandan armed group known as the ADF is believed to have carried out a string of massacres in the eastern DRC, killing more than 1,000 civilians since the start of 2019, according to UN figures.

DRC’s eastern borderlands with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi are home to more than 100 different rebel groups, many remnants of its brutal civil wars that officially ended in 2003.

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