The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), MONUSCO, on Wednesday, March 23, admitted that the security situation in the country has not improved despite it being on ground since 2010 with more than 17,000 peacekeeping troops.

"As you know, the security situation is not improving. Do not hide, it even tends to deteriorate depending on the area. And if we take from north to south in a somewhat caricatural way to go fast, we have CODECO in the north who have evolved a little in their objectives and who, as you know, have been attacking the camps for displaced people for a few weeks," Maj Gen Benoît Chavanat, the MONUSCO Deputy Commander, told a press conference in Kinshasa.

Chavanat was addressing the press conference virtually from the eastern DRC city of Goma.

Once a peaceful agricultural cooperative, before eventually transforming into an armed rebel movement, CODECO is a loose association of various Lendu militia groups operating in DRC.

"You obviously have the ADF [Allied Democratic Forces] which is being vigorously fought by the Ugandan armies in connection with the FARDC (Congolese army) and which continue to commit atrocities here and there," he added.

Originally based in western Uganda but has expanded into the neighboring DRC, the ADF is an Islamist rebel group in Uganda and the DRC, considered a terrorist organization by the Ugandan government.

A soldier and 11 civilians were killed in a rebel attack in DRC's troubled northeasterly province of Ituri, hospital sources and local authorities said on March 24.

"We have received 11 bodies of civilian victims of a massacre in the Lopa region at Djugu. There was also the body of one soldier," John Katabuka, director of the main regional hospital, told AFP.

"Codeco militants attacked the village of Tshotsho Wednesday night into Thursday morning. They killed 11 civilians with machetes and guns -- a woman and elderly people," local official Gedeon Dino told AFP

There is also the "M23" of which we feel some signs of renewed activity especially against the FARDC directly but indirectly on civilians. And you have further south, of course, the Mayi-Mayi who are attacking communities (...) in the Highlands."

In addition to the attacks on displacement sites since last December, the French general reported "the employment of a number of minors, children therefore, by certain armed groups in the DRC who use minor children, child soldiers to increase the numbers."

The French general acknowledged that it is a situation the UN mission has known for a long time but did little or nothing about. He said this is a situation "that we have known for a long time but which tends to persist. I'll just give you an example in Beni, young ADF cadres who were 15 years old with their guns were apprehended by the FARDC in Kamango.”

In its Resolution 2556 (2020), the Security Council decided to extend for one year, until December 2021, the mandate of MONUSCO and also approved its gradual exit strategy. The UN mission was to keep a maximum authorized strength of 14,000 military personnel, 660 military observers and staff officers, 591 police officers and 1,050 members of the formed police units. At the time, the Council approved the deployment, on a temporary basis, of an additional 360 members of the formed police units, to replace the military personnel.

The Council had assigned two “strategic priorities” to the Mission: civilians’ protection; and support for the stabilization, the strengthening of public institutions and the major governance and security reforms.

The UN mission’s approved budget for the financial year 2021/2022 alone was $1,123,346,000.

However, United Nations peacekeepers continuously failed to intervene to stop militia attack that killed hundreds of civilians in the country, and often blamed Congolese forces for inaction.

In numerous instances, UN peacekeepers left civilians to be slaughtered even though they got desperate calls for help when the attacks began.

Reports have shown how UN peacekeepers provide a false sense of security by not responding when local communities ring the alarm bells.

Since the end of November, the DRC has authorized the entry of Ugandan troops into the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri for joint operations against the ADF, an armed group of Ugandan origin that pledged allegiance to Daesh since 2019.

The Islamic State (IS), at times known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and also referred to by its Arabic-language acronym Daesh, is an Islamist militant jihadist group and former unrecognized quasi-state that follows a Salafi jihadist doctrine.

About two years ago, the United Nations peacekeeping mission closed nine field offices following the peaceful transfer of power in the 2018 presidential elections. A new strategy for the operation’s eventual closure was discussed at the highest levels.

Kishasa wants the peacekeepers out but there are no guarantees they will exit soon.

The drawdown and ultimate withdrawal of MONUSCO figured prominently in UN discussions with the government in Kinshasa, as noted by Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of MONUSCO, in her briefing on the Secretary-General’s report on the Mission (document S/2020/1150). The result of the discussions was the joint strategy, shared with the Security Council by the Secretary-General on October 26, 2020, she said, adding that it represented a common vision for the Mission’s gradual, responsible and sustainable drawdown and exit.

By June 2021, MONUSCO would withdraw completely from the Kasaïs, and by June 2022, it will also be able to withdraw from Tanganyika, should stabilization persist.

In October 2021, the representative of the DRC reiterated his request to the Council to lift restrictions on the import of military supplies and enable the State to enhance its capacity to combat armed groups.  Kinshasa also called for severe and exemplary punishment against criminal groups or multinationals who support armed groups through the illegal exploitation of minerals.

However, the Security Council in December 2021 decided to extend the mandate of the UN mission in DRC, alongside its Force Intervention Brigade, until December 20, 2022, and welcomed Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi’s efforts in the political and human rights arenas and demanding that all armed groups immediately cease all forms of violence and other destabilizing activities.

Unanimously adopting resolution 2612 (2021) under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Council further decided that MONUSCO’s troop ceiling will comprise 13,500 military personnel, 660 military observers and staff officers, 591 police and 1,050 formed police units.