Police on Monday dispersed about 100 demonstrators in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DR Congo) eastern city of Beni, a day after UN peacekeepers returning to duty killed three people and wounded more than a dozen at the border with Uganda.
Dalzon Mikundi, president of the Beni Urban Youth Council, said they want the UN to cover medical care for the victims wounded by peacekeepers amid demonstrations demanding that the UN force leave the DR Congo.
Tensions between the population in restive eastern DR Congo and the UN peacekeeping force have risen dramatically in the past week or so, with more than 20 killed in protests calling for the force to leave.
Photo: EPA-EFE
On Sunday, UN peacekeepers opened fire on civilians in Kasindi, a border town with Uganda in DR Congo’s North Kivu province.
“I call on the youth of Beni to put pressure peacefully and not to fall into vandalism,” Mikundi said. “I also call on our government to play its role well in securing its population so as not to rely on foreign forces.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was outraged by the shooting in Kasindi.
“The secretary-general is both saddened and dismayed by the loss of life and serious injuries sustained during this incident. He expresses his deepest condolences to the affected families, the people of the DRC [DR Congo] and the Congolese government,” a UN statement said.
Guterres also welcomed investigations into the incident and said the peacekeeper’s nation has been contacted to quickly begin “judicial proceedings with the participation of victims and witnesses so that appropriate sanctions can be handed down.”
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the secretary-general spoke to Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday morning and apologized for Sunday’s incident and conveyed his condolences.
To bring about stability in eastern Congo, “effective dialogue” is needed and for that to happen the UN demands “the unconditional withdrawal of the M23 group” and calls on all armed groups to cease all forms of violence, he said.
Guterres said the UN is totally committed to coordinating and working with the DR Congo armed forces, Haq said.
Effective dialogue is needed to bring stability to the eastern region, and for that to happen, we demand the unconditional withdrawal of the M23 group and call on all armed groups to cease all forms of violence, he said.
Meanwhile, the UN mission in the DR Congo on Monday paid homage in Goma to the soldiers killed amid demonstrations last week in Goma, Butembo and other places in the eastern region of the country.
UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo head Bintou Keita, as well as UN Undersecretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix attended the ceremony.
The federal government sent a delegation to Goma over the weekend to visit the UN facilities and meet with the protesters to find a solution to the crisis.
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