Monusco Peacekeeper Killed in DRC amid ongoing violence towards UN
A Pakistani peacekeeper has been killed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in an attack by local militia on a peacekeepers’ camp.
The peacekeeper was shot dead on Friday by a suspected Twirwaneho militiamen who had come to the Monusco camp in Minembwe, apparently to surrender.
Monusco warned attacks against peacekeepers may constitute a war crime.
The attack on the Monusco base comes amid a climate of mistrust towards UN soldiers in eastern DRC.
It is not the first such incident against Monusco. In July, 32 demonstrators and four peacekeepers were killed during a week of protests against the presence of Monusco, several of whose bases had been looted.
The Twirwaneho militia claims to defend the interests of the Banymulenge community, a Congolese Tutsi minority.
It is one of a hundred or so rebel groups that have led to several thousand deaths over the past ten years.
The UN has been deployed in the DRC since 1999 and currently has a contingent of some 16,000 troops.
