UN vehicle torched, 2 peacekeepers wounded in mob attack in DR Congo

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - An angry mob attacked a convoy of the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUSCO), leaving two peacekeepers wounded and a vehicle torched in the eastern North Kivu province, where government troops are battling M23 rebels, the mission said Wednesday.

The incident occurred on Tuesday night near Goma town.

“At around 21:00, a convoy of MONUSCO heading to Goma from Rumangabo was stopped at a checkpoint of FARDC (government troops) at Kanyaruchinya. A crowd gathered and began to stone the convoy, setting fire to at least one of the MONUSCO trucks,” the mission said on Twitter.

“Two Bangladeshi engineers were injured,” he added.

The convoy managed to leave the area after MONUSCO fired warning shots, it added.

The UN mission condemned the incident, saying that destroying their equipment would limit the ability to intervene to fulfill its mandate to protect civilians.

Rumangabo hosted a Congolese army base, but it was recently abandoned as the M23 fighters approached, leaving it to be guarded by a contingent of UN peacekeepers.

On Tuesday, the mission said it had made a strategic and tactical withdrawal from Rumangabo, in consultation with their partners, to better prepare the next steps.

Since fighting resumed in late October between Congolese army and M23 rebels, this is the latest incident against peacekeepers.

Four peacekeepers were wounded during attacks perpetrated last Saturday by M23 rebels in Kiwanja, Rutshuru territory, MONUSCO said.

The recent clashes have displaced more than 50,000 people in North Kivu province.

DR Congo accuses Rwanda of backing M23 rebels, a charge Rwanda denies.

Last Saturday, the rebels captured two key towns of Kiwanja and Rutshuru as fighting intensified in the east.

The Congolese government last week expelled the Rwandan ambassador to the country Vincent Karega as the tensions escalated over the M23 rebels fighting government troops.

Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye, in his capacity as the rotating chairperson of the East African Community (EAC) bloc, on Tuesday held phone talks with regional leaders to discuss the security crisis in eastern Congo.

The leaders agreed that a meeting of heads of defense forces of the bloc members should be convened as soon as possible to study the parameters of a sustainable response.

On Monday, the United States demanded an immediate cessation of hostilities and called for the M23 group to withdraw from its positions, disarm, and rejoin the inter-Congolese dialogue.

The EAC has agreed to deploy a regional force to DR Congo to help the country battle an insurgency by a myriad of armed groups in the east.​​​​​​​