DR Congo Arrests Jordanian National With Links to ISIS

The government in the Democratic Republic of Congo says it has arrested a Jordanian national for alleged ties to an Islamist militia in the east of the country.

This comes amid concern that the Islamic State group has been trying to strengthen ties with the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) – an Islamist armed group originally from Uganda.

The ADF has been blamed for frequent attacks against civilians.

The Reuters news agency says it has seen documents which confirm the arrested man was in charge of the ADF’s drones, although they suggested he was from Saudi Arabia.

Although the rebel group has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, UN experts say they have not found conclusive evidence of close links between them.

Meanwhile a rebel leader in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Chance Mihonya, an army deserter, set up a rebel group in 2017 in the Kahuzi Biega National Park. He was arrested last year.

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A mobile military court set up near the city of Bukavu found him guilty of kidnapping and torturing dozens of people from several villages in the park.

He was also convicted of recruiting child soldiers and exploiting the country’s mineral reserves.

Rights groups say more than a hundred different armed groups operate in eastern DR Congo, where the UN says more than a million people have been forced from their homes this year by violence.