DR Congo PM, defense council members visit Beni after massacre

Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) President Joseph Kabila on Tuesday sent a delegation comprising of Prime Minister Matata Ponyo and members of the defense council to Beni, North Kivu province, where about 50 people were massacred by a Ugandan rebel group over the weekend.

On Tuesday morning, Kabila held a meeting with members of the supreme defense council in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. The meeting was attended by the prime minister, senior army officers and police chiefs.

"It was a case of terrorism. We must understand what is terrorism. It is not just in DR Congo where this kind of massacre occurs," Ponyo said after arriving in Beni.

"It is an exceptional mode of operation. I believe we need an exceptional response plan because we are fighting an asymmetric war," he said.

The prime minister said the delegation will examine all possibilities to respond to this exceptional situation, and that exceptional measures will be taken soon once the president has been briefed.

On Sunday, Kabila told the media the terrorist attack in Beni by Uganda's Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), was not different from those carried out in Mali, Cameroon, Nigeria, Somalia and even Belgium, the U.S. and France.

The ADF rebels who have been active in eastern DR Congo since 1994, have been accused of killing over 600 civilians since October 2014 in Beni town. Endite