Part of the Congolese population is eagerly demanding the departure of the UN mission accused of inefficiency.
With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi
A new demonstration against Monusco took place in the east of the DRC, this Monday, August 1st. The police and the army used warning shots to disperse the demonstrators who tried to approach the base of the UN mission in Beni.
The Congolese and UN authorities say they are aware of the seriousness of the situation, but refuse to take a decision in a hasty manner. Thereby, sunday shooting does not affect both military and civilian operations. In the territory of Beni, at the Kasindi border post, blue helmets had opened fire, killing three people and injuring fifteen.
On Monday August 1, the Congolese Minister of Human Rights, Albert-Fabrice Puela, asked in a press release to the United Nations Human Rights Council to take measures so that serious investigations are carried out and that exemplary sanctions are taken. against the perpetrators of these acts.
At this stage, the suspected soldiers are still in detention in their camp. The UN mission, both in Kinshasa and in New York, is working to get Tanzania to send a tribunal to the DRC. The judgment would ideally take place in Kasindi or Beni in the presence of the victims or their families and the witnesses. If convicted, they would be repatriated to serve their sentence in their country.
The fact that these soldiers belong to a member country of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) like the DRC and that there are judicial cooperation agreements between the two countries should facilitate the process. ” It’s in everyone’s interest that this happens diligently and in the best possible conditions. “, told RFI a UN official posted in Kinshasa.
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Tribute to the five blue helmets killed this week
Members of the United Nations mission and UN Deputy Secretary General Jean-Pierre Lacroix paid tribute on Monday in Goma to five peacekeepers killed in a week in eastern DRC. A Moroccan blue helmet was killed on Tuesday July 26 in Butembo during violent anti-Monusco demonstrations. In the same circumstances, two UN police officers of Indian nationality were also killed. Hospital sources reported nine deaths on the protesters side.
The next day, Commander Mouhamed Rami, of Moroccan nationality, died so ” accidental “said Bintou Keita, the head of Monusco in Goma where tributes were paid to peacekeepers. A fifth UN soldier, the Moroccan Abdelaziz El Maskyni, was killed in the town of Bunagana in Rutshuru territory where blue helmets are supporting the DRC Armed Forces in operations against the March 23 Movement.
During this tribute ceremony, the Indian, Moroccan, UN and Congolese flags flew side by side, but no Congolese official was present.
(AFP)
The toll of scuffles and other violence surrounding protests against Monusco in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has doubled. Under the terms of a meeting that brought together around President Félix Tshisekedi, ministers returning from a mission in the east, the presidents of the National Assembly, the Senate and the Prime Minister, the authorities gave a report of 36 dead including 4 blue helmets in a week of tensions against the United Nations in the cities of Goma, Butembo, Uvira, the localities of Kanyabayonga and Kasindi. There were also nearly 170 injured. The government decided to reevaluate with MONUSCO the plan for its withdrawal from Congolese territory.
In the same context, President Tshisekedi spoke yesterday with the United Nations General Decree, Antonio Guterres. The Congolese president expressed his “ total disapproval of the behavior of the blue helmets at the root of these incidents and of the need to ensure that the culprits are severely punished “, according to the report of the government. The Congolese president who reminded the UN chief that the withdrawal of the M23 rebels from all the localities currently occupied “is a necessary condition for the reduction of tension” in the region.