Civilians attacked a United Nations peacekeeping convoy in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday evening, injuring two people, the UN mission said on Wednesday. Kenya’s President William Ruto meanwhile on Wednesday officially deployed troops to DR Congo to join an East African regional force aiming to end decades of bloodshed.
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Civilians attacked a United Nations peacekeeping convoy in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday evening, injuring two people, the UN mission said on Wednesday.
The convoy was attacked when it stopped at an army checkpoint near an internally displaced persons site in Kanyarutshinya, 8 kilometres from the city of Goma.
A crowd assembled and threw stones at the convoy, setting fire to at least one truck, the UN mission, MONUSCO, said on Twitter. UN peacekeepers fired warning shots into the air and finally left the zone, it said.
Frustration has grown in the region this year with the UN mission, which civilians accuse of failing to protect them from worsening militia violence. Dozens were killed in anti-UN protests in July.
Fighting resumed between the M23 rebel group and the Congolese army on October 20, causing at least 90,000 people to flee their homes since. The UN and the African Union have urged a de-escalation and immediate end to the hostilities.
“Our wish is that MONUSCO leaves our country. Because we don’t see why they are here,” said Jackson Fiki Kalimunda, 29, who fled from his home to Kanyarutshinya because of the conflict.
Earlier on Tuesday, the UN announced a “strategic and tactical” withdrawal of 450 peacekeepers from Rumangabo, located further north, near Virunga Park.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s President William Ruto on Wednesday officially deployed troops to eastern DR Congo to join the East African regional force aiming to end decades of bloodshed.
The seven countries of the East African Community (EAC), which Congo joined this year, agreed in April to set up a joint force to fight militia groups in Congo’s east. The Kenyan troops will join a contingent from Burundi.
Despite billions of dollars spent on one of the United Nation’s largest peacekeeping forces, more than 120 armed groups continue to operate across large swathes of east Congo, including the M23 rebels, which Congo has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting. Kigali denies the claims.
Uganda has already sent troops into Congo as part of separate deployment to chase down an Islamic State-linked armed militants, one of the warring groups in eastern Congo.
“We all have a stake in a stable Democratic Republic of Congo and its security,” President Ruto said at a send-off ceremony for the troops in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.
Ruto said the United Nations and African Union had given “tacit” backing to the Kenyan deployment. A UN spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request to confirm whether the body had formally approved the deployment.
A UN source told Reuters there has been some uncertainty around Kenya’s deployment because Nairobi wanted international funding, which requires an official mandate from the UN Security Council or the AU.
“We have been working very hard to mobilise the international community to support the east African force,” Kenya’s defence minister Aden Duale said at the event.
On Wednesday morning several thousand people held a demonstration in the city of Bukavu, eastern Congo, against the regional force because, they said, some of their “enemies” are member countries of the East African Community.
– REUTERS
