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| - An organisation that monitors violence in DR Congo's conflict-riven east said Wednesday that January was the region's deadliest month since it started keeping records in June 2017. The Kivu Security Tracker (KST) said there were 210 "violent deaths" in the North and South Kivu regions in January, questioning the army's ability to stem the bloodshed in four flashpoint areas. "The Congolese army, which is understaffed and facing significant logistical issues, appears incapable of bringing abuses against civilians to an end in any of the four flashpoints," the NGO said in its monthly report. "Due to this continuing insecurity, there have been reports of an upsurge in militia mobilisation and the failure of the demobilisation process." The KST said three flashpoints were still particularly active, including Beni territory in the northeast, where "large-scale massacres were once again committed, mostly by Ugandan Islamist combatants of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)". Another was Walungu territory, where "the hunt for Rwandan Hutu rebels of the National Council for Renewal and Democracy (CNRD) once again caused the death of civilians," KST said. The third active flashpoint was the highlands of Fizi and Uvira, where community militias were engaged in deadly clashes. Dozens of armed groups are active in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Kivu regions, which have been plagued by violence for more than 25 years. The country's army has launched operations on several fronts but has struggled to quell the violence. The KST is a joint project of the Congo Research Group, based at New York University's Center on International Cooperation, and Human Rights Watch. mbb/st/dl/lc
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