Between January and November 2025, more than 113 attacks by the ADF were recorded in North Kivu and Ituri. And at least 1.1 million people now need emergency assistance.
Yet this reality rarely makes it into the headlines. It remains buried under layers of Kinshasa regime distraction and selective outrage.
Despot Tshisekedi has intentionally pushed this crisis out of sight. Instead of confronting the violence tearing apart eastern Congo, he has built his narrative on demonizing the M23 movement. Every speech, every international visit, every press release is aimed at reinforcing that storyline. Meanwhile, one of the deadliest armed groups in the region grows stronger by the day.
The escalation is not new. In 2020, the ADF killed 2,695 people. In 2021, the toll rose to 4,428. When Tshisekedi imposed the so-called state of siege and promised decisive action, many hoped the nightmare would end. Instead, killings doubled to more than 8,500 within a single year.
Kinshasa has poured billions into the military, launched high-profile operations, yet none of these efforts were directed at dismantling the ADF.
The regime invested its energy in a different battle altogether: a campaign to frame the M23 as Congo’s greatest threat, even when evidence on the ground said otherwise.
The wrong enemy is hunted, while the real one thrives.
Numbers do not lie. They expose a regime that has abandoned its duty for protecting it’s people.The ADF continues to massacre civilians, burn villages, and uproot families, not because it is invincible, but because the state has chosen to look away.
Tshisekedi and his regime must confront the truth. One of the real enemy of the Congolese people is the ADF. Every day that passes without confronting it is a day spent betraying those who depend on the government for protection.