43 people died and more than 150 were detained in violent clashes between the Army and protesters who expressed their rejection of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) on August 30, according to government figures.
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The Army dispersed the demonstration after images circulated of demonstrators attacking a police officer during the protests, which would have caused the death of the uniformed officer. The Reuters news agency says it has not been able to verify the images.
Initially, the authorities of the African country had indicated that the protesters had stoned the police officer to death and that six people had died after the Army’s action, but later raised the figure to a total of 43 people killed and 158 arrested.
Government recognition of the large-scale tragedy did not come until a video went viral on social networks in which members of the armed forces were seen loading inert bodies onto the back of a truck, which generated uncertainty regarding the veracity of the data initially shared by the State.
On the other hand, civil society organizations also revealed information that caused alarm. Anne-Sylvie Linder, head of the Red Cross in the city, mentioned that the hospital in charge of the organization received dead and injured people, by rubber bullets or stab wounds, moments after the intervention of the Army in the protest, on the 30th of August. “Some were dead when they arrived,” Linder said.
Dissatisfaction with the ineffectiveness of MONUSCO
This August 31, MONUSCO lamented the deaths of the protesters through a statement published on its X profile, adding an invitation to the national authorities to “carry out a prompt and independent investigation and asked them to treat the detainees with humanity and respect their rights”.
The United Nations mission for the Congo has been the target of criticism since 2022, when violence between government forces and militia groups such as the ‘M23’ intensified. A conflict that, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has displaced around 12,000 Congolese to neighboring Rwanda.
In July of that year, a similar protest against international peacekeepers claimed the lives of 15 people, including three members of said humanitarian mission.
The #MONUSCO strongly encourage les autorités🇨🇩 to diligenter une enquête prompte et indépendante et invite them to traitor les personnes détenues dans le respect de leurs droits en vertu de la Constitution et des engagements internationalaux du pays.https://t.co/kfxFhTeSPy
— MONUSCO (@MONUSCO) August 31, 2023
The presence of the United Nations in Africa, threatened
The discontent of the African peoples with the ineffectiveness of the peace missions commanded by the UN seems to spread to several nations in the region, especially after Mali demanded the withdrawal of the organization’s presence from its territory at the beginning of 2023.
“Realism requires observing the failure of MINUSMA, whose mandate does not respond to security challenges,” said Abdoulaye Diop, Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs, on June 16, referring to the discontent of the Malian State with the mission of United Nations in his country, known as MINUSMA.
The impossibility of peacekeeping troops to undertake an active armed struggle against armed groups and the possibility of resorting to mercenary groups, such as the controversial Wagner Group, among other historical factors, have influenced some African societies, in search of a effective solution to their security problems and government instability, are expressing growing discontent with traditional international efforts.
With Reuters and local media
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