MONUSCO support to DRC army coalition still a big concern

Author: Jones Mila

• 2024-06-12 05:30:00

The UN peace keepers in eastern DRC.

The security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is worsening due to the collaboration of the UN mission in the country and the Congolese army (FARDC) at the front in the fight against the M23 rebels around the city of Kanyabayonga in North Kivu.

Although the UN agreed to withdraw MONUSCO last year, the mission’s troops have been actively helping the Congolese army coalition since early January 2024, by participating in large scale and indiscriminate massacres of Congolese Tutsi communities.

Sources from Kinshasa say that MONUSCO is leading and supporting offensive actions against the M23 alongside the FARDC, SADC, FDLR genocidal militia, Wazalendo militia, European mercenaries as well as the Burundian national defense forces (FDNB).

Since May 31, the blue helmets from the Intervention Brigade (FIB), have been deployed in Beni territory with an aim to help FARDC to cope with the M23 advance.

MONUSCO's support to the Congolese army includes, drone surveillance, which has helped Kinshasa to conduct deadly drone and fighter jet attacks, leading to deaths of innocent civilians.

In the wake of the joint offensive by MONUSCO and Kinshasa, against the M23, fighting has forced over 150,000 men, women, and children to flee. Many have sought refuge in areas such as Miriki and Kirumba, with some reaching as far as Lubero and Butembo.

MONUSCO claims that one of its objectives is to protect civilians so that the rebels do not shoot them as reported by Jean Tobi Okala, the head of the strategic communication and public information department of MONUSCO.

Despite this, they do not prevail on Kinshasa to stop incorporating armed terror groups and militias like FDLR, and Wazalendo, into the national army because the peacekeepers continue to collaborates with FARDC and its coalition of negative armed groups, thereby escalating violence against the Kinyarwanda speaking community.

Earlier this year, on February 10, MONUSCO and the Congolese army coalition also jointly engaged in the attack against M23 positions in Mweso and Katsiru, in Masisi Territory, North Kivu, which caused the displacement of over 2,000 people.

The attacks were prepared and logistically sponsored by the blue helmets, which also provided the Congolese army with intelligence on the rebels.

For more than two decades of operations in DRC, the UN mission has brought no positive change. Armed groups multiplied from about five to over 260, as of 2024.

Peace initiatives like the Luanda and Nairobi peace processes were violated by MONUSCO and FARDC collaboration. The Luanda and Nairobi peace processes desired a ceasefire by all armed groups, and political dialogue with armed groups. However, all of them were undermined by Kinshasa, with support from MONUSCO.

The blue helmets have constantly failed the Kinyarwanda speaking community by fighting against M23 rebels who are fighting against an existential threat. The so-called peacekeepers are now working with the Congolese government in its agenda of ethnic cleansing. They intend to annihilate a community they are supposed to be protecting.

As a departing force that has spent over two decades in the DRC, prioritizing peacekeeping efforts in their remaining time would have been the ideal course of action. However, they allowed malevolence to prevail, enabling the massacres of countless Congolese Tutsi civilians in the country.