DRC Asks U.N. Peacekeeping Mission Spokesman To Leave Country After Protests

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Wednesday asked the spokesman of the United Nations peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, to leave the country, accusing him for fuelling tensions that resulted in deadly protests last week, reported The Reuters.

“The Congolese government considers that the presence of this official on the national territory is not likely to promote a climate of mutual trust and calm between Congolese institutions and MONUSCO,” said the statement from the foreign affairs ministry dated July 28.

According to the DRC government, the MONUSCO spokesperson, Mathias Gillmann, had made indelicate and inappropriate statements which contributed to the tensions between the civilians and the U.N. mission.

Last week, at least thirty-six people, including four UN peacekeepers, were killed in clashes as hundreds of protesters vandalised and set UN buildings on fire in several cities in Congo’s east.

The people of DRC accuse the mission, which has been active for more than a decade, of failing to protect them from militia violence that has long plagued the region.

ON Sunday, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was outraged over an incident in which U.N. peacekeepers opened fire on the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda. Two people were killed in the firing and several others were injured.

The UN peacekeeping force, MONUSCO, admitted that some of its personnel had opened fire “for unexplained reasons,” adding that arrests had been made.

Earlier this week, the Congolese government also said that it would reassess the mission’s withdrawal plan in light of the protests, a decision which MONUSCO said it supported.

The DR Congo’s Foreign Affairs Minister Christophe Lutundula said the mission is due to withdraw by 2024 according to a plan drawn up last year but the government aims to speed up its departure.

There are over 120 armed groups operating in the DRC’s troubled eastern region. The UN first deployed an observer mission to the region in 1999.