Two peacekeepers were injured on Tuesday night in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo when a UN convoy was attacked by an angry crowd, UN and local sources said. The incident comes amid an armed offensive by the M23 rebel group and the growing frustration of locals towards the UN mission.
A MONUSCO – the UN mission in the DRC – convoy was travelling from the north of Goma to the outskirts of the capital of North Kivu province. When they reached the Kanyaruchinya Barrier, the convoy was pelted with stones and at least one vehicle was set on fire, a MONUSCO official in Goma told AFP.
The barrier is also where thousands of displaced people have arrived in the last few days after fleeing recent fighting between the Congolese army (FARDC) and M23 rebels.
“Two peacekeepers were injured during the altercation,” the official said. The convoy was able to continue its journey after warning shots were fired, witnesses said by telephone. A local civil society leader, Adolphe Shukuru, said the convoy came to a halt when “the army wanted to search the vehicles for their contents”. The crowd then “started attacking the peacekeepers,” he added.
The UN peacekeepers, who have been in the DRC for more than 20 years, have been accused of ineffectiveness in the fight against armed groups that have terrorised the east of the DRC for nearly three decades.
The rebels have in recent days reached Rumangabo, home to a Congolese army base and the headquarters of Virunga National Park, known as the home of mountain gorillas.
“We have carried out a strategic and tactical withdrawal from Rumangabo, in consultation with our partners, to better prepare the next steps together,” MONUSCO tweeted on Tuesday.
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The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on Tuesday called for urgent de-escalation of tensions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In the last few days, more than a dozen civilians have been killed, at least 40 injured and more than 90,000 displaced in days of renewed fighting between the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) and the 23 March Movement (M23) armed militia group.
