KINSHASA (Reuters) – On Saturday, the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Democratic Republic of Congo reported that its staff and vehicles were attacked in the capital Kinshasa. This comes as a worsening eastern security crisis fuels a backlash against the mission.
Motorbike crowds gathered in the riverside Gombe district, where the U.N. mission known as MONUSCO and many embassies are located. They burned tyres and attacked people, according to a Reuters reporter.
MONUSCO head Bintou Keita stated in an online post that a number of the mission’s vehicles were torched. “I strongly condemn the series of attacks,” she said.
The Ivorian embassy also reported that one of its vehicles had been vandalized in Kinshasa, and described indiscriminate attacks on vehicles belonging to embassies and international organizations.
Kinshasa police and the government did not respond to a request for comment.
An advance by rebel group M23 that threatens the strategic eastern city of Goma in conflict-torn North Kivu province has aggravated a decades-old security and humanitarian crisis.
Clashes between the rebels, the armed forces, and self-defense groups that support the army have escalated in recent weeks, forcing over 135,000 more people to flee to perceived areas of greater safety near Goma, the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said on Thursday.
The fighting “could compromise food security and economic activities in Goma and the region. The risk of Goma being isolated is high,” it said.
MONUSCO has been deployed in eastern Congo since taking over from a previous U.N. operation in 2010. Its mandate includes supporting the Congolese government’s effort to stabilize the region, but in recent years it has faced sometimes violent protests linked to perceptions it has not done enough to stem the eastern bloodshed.
(Reporting by Ange Kasongo; Additional reporting by Justin Makangara and Ange Aboa in Abidjan; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; editing by Barbara Lewis)
