At least 15 people died this past Monday in the protests unleashed in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) against the United Nations peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO). Specifically, the victims include 12 civilians and three members of the mission, as confirmed by the Congolese government.
"We regret the death of the victims, including civilians and blue helmets, who died in (the city of) Butembo," said the government spokesman and Minister of Press and Communication, Patrick Muyaya, at a press conference late on Tuesday. .
"In Butembo, we counted seven civilians in serious condition. Also 61 wounded who are distributed in different hospitals in the province of North Kivu (northeast), mainly in Goma (the provincial capital)," he added. Muyaya also reported that investigations into the events have already begun.
As the president of Goma's civil society, John Banyene, told Efe, the mobilizations began on Saturday and led to the assault and looting of some of the UN mission's facilities in the city on Monday.
The protesters took to the streets to demand the withdrawal of the UN mission – established more than two decades ago – accusing it of ineffectiveness in the face of the violence that is devastating the east of the DRC, where at least 122 rebel groups operate, according to the Kivu Security Barometer (KST).
The UN spokesman, Farhan Haq, confirmed this Tuesday in his daily press conference in New York the death in the riots of three workers of the organization: a military man and two military policemen.
According to Haq, "hundreds of people" participated in the attacks against various facilities of the organization, in particular against the headquarters of the UN Development Program (UNDP) in Goma, where they were "repelled" by security guards.
The population built barricades in different parts of the city, in addition to lighting bonfires in front of some of the UN buildings, while a large part of the organization's workers in the province had to be evacuated.
The assault came after the president of the Congolese Senate (Upper House), Modeste Bahati Lukwebo, in mid-July accused MONUSCO of not being effective and demanded its withdrawal.
Since 1998, the east of the DRC has been plunged into a conflict fueled by rebel militias and attacks by Army soldiers, despite the presence of the UN mission, with some 14,000 troops deployed.
