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full screenDemonstrators in Congo-Kinshasa protest against the presence of the UN. Archive image. Photo: Moses Sawasawa/AP/TT
The UN mission Monusco ends its mission in Congo-Kinshasa. The first UN base will soon be handed over to Congolese security forces. The handover will take place in three stages.
In November, the UN announced that it had signed an agreement on a withdrawal, at the request of the government in Kinshasa.
Congo-Kinshasa’s Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula has made it clear that he wants the handover to end within the year, but no exact end date is clear.
Monusco is one of the UN’s largest and most expensive peacekeeping operations with an annual budget of just over ten billion kroner.
The UN operation has been ongoing in Congo-Kinshasa since 1999 during the civil fighting that forced millions of residents to flee and is believed to have cost the lives of over five million residents.