United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)
Monuc
7 November 2007
During its weekly press conference, on 7 November 2007, MONUC said "deeply shocked by this extreme violence with regard to its personnel, causing many injuries and even deaths among the Congolese civilian population ".
"MONUC reminds the Congolese populations that its forces are in North Kivu to help their government restore peace in the eastern part of the DRC and to protect the vulnerable populations as much as it can, in the limits of its resources and its mandate. MONUC is deeply shocked by this extreme violence with regard to its personnel, causing many injuries and even deaths among the civilians", the Spokesman of the mission, Kemal Saiki, said
As a reminder, on November 5 last, protestors of displaced persons who were asking for humanitarian aid, attacked MONUC military basis as well as a patrol of the mission in Rutshuru. The army and the Congolese national police intervened and fired bullets in the air to disperse the crowds. This confrontation caused two deaths and several injuries.
Another incident occurred on 6 November last in the same region, but no victims were declared.
"MONUC deeply regrets that its personnel is often unjustly taken as "scapegoat" and is victim of serious, unjustified and unjustifiable violent acts, on behalf of various groups or individuals, following different instrumentalisations of local actors,. It urges the Congolese authorities to more actively sensitize the population on MONUC's role on their sides in order to bring back peace to North Kivu and to alleviate the sufferings of the civilians as well as to counter the poisonous rumors that runs about MONUC, noting its support to the dissidents."
MONUC also asks the Congolese authorities to open an investigation on Kiwanja incidents in order to identify the instigators of this violent aggression, who cost an innocent child his life, hit by a stray bullet, and caused about forty injuries, among which 27 Blue Helmets, more than ten Congolese civilians and several Congolese police officers.
In the humanitarian side, the mission indicated that whereas all efforts are focusing on North-Kivu to avoid a humanitarian disaster, the situation in South-Kivu is as preoccupying for World Food Program (WFP). It is estimated that more than 64,000 resettled people or who in the process of resettling in their villages of origin in Mwenga and Walungus territories don't have supplies for the month of November. All will depend on the speed with which the supplies, currently in transit in the neighboring countries, will be able to cross DRC borders and be routed toward the distribution sites.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
