The UN has announced the death of one of its peacekeepers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The Pakistani soldier was shot and killed on Friday in an attack by local militia at the Monusco camp in Minembwe.
A Pakistani UN peacekeeper was killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in an attack by a local militia, the UN said on Saturday. The peacekeeper was shot dead on Friday evening by suspected militiamen from the Twirwaneho group who had presented themselves at the Monusco camp in Minembwe, South Kivu, allegedly to surrender, according to a press release from the United Nations mission. in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monusco).
A possible war crime
“An attack on UN peacekeepers can constitute a war crime,” said Monusco. Monusco did not specify the nationality of the soldier killed, but according to a Congolese army spokesman in Minembwe, it would be a sergeant and the camp is managed by the Pakistani contingent of Monusco.
The Twirwaneho militia is one of the hundred or so armed groups that maintain permanent insecurity in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has caused several thousand deaths over the past dozen years. This militia claims to defend the interests of the Banyamulenge community, a Congolese Tutsi minority. The UN has been deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1999 and currently has a contingent of some 16,000 troops.