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| - DR Congo's government has vowed to speed up a security campaign in its troubled east, where hundreds of people have been massacred by armed groups since the start of the year. Speaking after new attacks that left at least 55 people dead, Defence Minister Gilbert Kabanda said a "state of siege" -- an initiative in which civilian officials in the east have been replaced by army officers -- would go into higher gear. "As in every process, there's the start-up phase, there's the acceleration phase and then there's the point where we reach the final goal," he said Tuesday. "Right now, we are in acceleration phase, because all the preparations are now in place, it's like a plane taking off," he said after talks with Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde. "I can assure you that within a maximum of two weeks, the situation will be different," he promised. President Felix Tshisekedi on May 6 decreed a state of siege in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, which have been overwhelmed by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group that has been linked to the so-called Islamic State group. Military and police officers have taken over from governors and other senior civilian officials, with the declared aim of responding faster to attacks and preventing them. The measure is to last 30 days but can be renewed. So there has not been any large-scale military operation. On Monday, more than 50 people were killed in Ituri, in the region's worst single-day death toll in years. The identity of the attackers remains unclear, as the massacres took place in an area notorious for ADF attacks and ethnic tension. The government has yet to comment -- a silence that has sparked media criticism. Five other people were killed early Tuesday, and several others, including children, are missing, an administrative official told AFP. "People are in a panic," said the official, Beni district administrator Donat Kibwana. More than 120 armed groups roam eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, many of them a legacy of bloody wars more than a quarter of a century ago. hba/bmb/blb/ri/wdb
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