The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), a peacekeeping mission in the DRC, protected civilians escaping violent attacks in the eastern region of the DRC by deploying troops to secure a designated corridor. The mission reported on Saturday that it sheltered approximately 1,000 displaced people and aims to protect the civilians in collaboration with the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FADRC).
Irate rebels shelled and dropped “mortar bombs” on the town of Mweso, located in DRC’s North Kivu province, killing 19, injuring 27 other civilians, and forcing people to flee from their homes, as informed by Africanews. The army implicated that the 23 March Movement (M23) rebel group was behind the onslaught. Bertrand Bisimwa, the leader of M23, accused the DRC army of utilizing drones and heavy artillery to bomb the town, resulting in the death of the “innocent population”.
This incident has intensified the long-prevailing tensions between Rwanda and the DRC. The DRC accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group, a claim consistently denied by Rwanda. The UN has emphasized that confrontations between the M23 and the FARDC are increasingly becoming common and severe, thus leading to a deteriorated security situation in the country.
In due course, the DRC requested the UN Security Council initiate a phased withdrawal of the UN peacekeeping mission from December 2023, as against the earlier planned extraction at the end of 2024. The UN peacekeeping mission has been present in the country since 1999 as MONUC and was renamed as MONUSCO in 2010. The mandate -as per the resolution S/RES/2717(2023)– adopted by the UNSC, renewed the mission for another year and is set to expire on December 20, 2024.
Furthermore, the Security Council agreed to the phased withdrawal request and outlined a three-phased “comprehensive disengagement plan”. The plan commenced at the end of 2023 amidst the ongoing electoral process wherein MONUSCO offered limited logistical support to the DRC on request by the government. The DRC, however, deems MONUSCO to be ineffective in curbing the armed conflicts that have haunted the eastern DRC region for decades.
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