Soldiers from the UN peacekeeping force shot dead two people and injured numerous others in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. What is currently the most expensive UN mission in the world seems to have failed in its task of bringing peace to the country and is increasingly coming under pressure.
Riots in a suburb of Goma in late July. Over the past week, protests have killed 19 people and injured scores more.
It was just before 11am on Sunday when a UN convoy arrived at the Kasindi border post. After a few days of vacation, the UN soldiers wanted to cross the border from Uganda to eastern Congo-Kinshasa in order to return to their base in Beni, around 70 kilometers away.
Shocking videos
Videos of the incident circulating on social media show a group of men in police and army uniforms walking toward the convoy that had come to a standstill at the border barrier. After a verbal argument, the partially masked UN soldiers open fire. Then they open the barrier and drive across the border.
The videos also show how people who are at the border crossing at the time flee in panic and try to hide behind nearby buildings. The attack claimed at least two lives and wounded more than fifteen, according to the Congolese government. According to a representative of the governor of the eastern Congolese province of North Kivu, eight people, including two police officers, were seriously injured in the incident.
Joel Kithausa, vice president of the Association of Civil Society Organizations in Kasindi, spoke of a despicable act. “Customs officials were instructed to deny entry to Congo-Kinshasa to UN soldiers, but they destroyed the barrier and shot wildly.” A government spokesman for the Democratic Republic of the Congo condemned the incident in the strongest possible terms.
Bloody protests for several weeks
On Sunday afternoon, the UN peacekeeping mission Monusco itself admitted that some of its peacekeepers had inexplicably opened fire. In view of this irresponsible behavior, the perpetrators were arrested and investigations were initiated in cooperation with the Congolese authorities, the UN mission announced. The home countries of the soldiers responsible have been informed so that legal action can be taken immediately, which should lead to exemplary punishments. However, the UN did not disclose the countries from which the perpetrators came.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a personal statement that he was shocked by the incident. Guterres welcomes the decision to launch an investigation into the UN staff involved.
Violent demonstrations broke out in several cities in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo last week, demanding the withdrawal of the United Nations. In the eastern Congolese city of Goma, for example, angry demonstrators stormed various UN buildings and looted food supplies and office supplies. A total of nineteen people, including three peacekeepers, died during these protests.
The world’s currently most expensive UN peacekeeping mission goes back to the second Congo war from 1998 to 2003, when several African armies occupied Congo-Kinshasa. From the year 2000 onwards, the UN supervised the withdrawal of foreign armies, but the blue helmets could do little to counter the many militias that continued to fight in the region.
Disappointed hope for peace
To date, more than 120 militias are active in the region. This feeds the impression among the Congolese population that the Monusco is not doing enough to stop the attacks by the armed groups on the civilian population. Just last Thursday there was another massacre by the Islamist ADF rebels in the region around the city of Beni, in which twelve civilians were killed.
The anti-UN sentiment is also repeatedly fueled by the Congolese government for political purposes – especially with a view to the upcoming elections in 2023. The most recent protests, for example, began after Senate President Modeste Bahati Lukwebo told supporters in Goma in mid-July that Monusco should pack its bags. “We ask ourselves whether it is worth continuing to allow Monusco to operate on our territory. 20,000 UN soldiers have been stationed here for 22 years, but there is no peace,” said Lukwebo.
Congo’s government and Monusco have already spoken in 2020 about a gradual withdrawal of the mission, which should be made possible by 2024. Before that, however, 18 “minimum conditions” would have to be met – such as creating security for the civilian population. Since this has not been achieved in the last few decades, this goal is unlikely to be achieved in the next two years either.