By RFIPosted 27-11-2019Modified on 27-11-2019 at 08:49

The population has again demonstrated in several cities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. She protests against the inaction of the army and especially Monusco. The incursions of armed groups have claimed nearly 80 civilian casualties since the beginning of November in the Beni region.

The tension spread on Tuesday around Beni. In Butembo, the youth erected barricades to block the main axes of the city. A car was burned and a protester wounded by a shot died in the hospital in the morning.

Chaffi Musity, one of the leaders of the Veranda Mutsanga group in Butembo, expresses his distrust of the United Nations Mission in Congo ( Monusco ): " The population is being slaughtered next to the Monusco encampment," he says. This is unacceptable. We want this Monusco to leave. "

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In Goma, the capital of North Kivu, too, clashes erupted near the premises of the UN mission. Academic activities have been suspended.

Finally, the population mobilized again in Beni. As the day before, when five people were killed, she went to the premises of the United Nations Mission. A protester was killed after a violent confrontation with the peacekeepers. An investigation is underway.

Trust that will be difficult to restore

On Monday, the Congolese presidency announced future joint operations of the army and Monusco and the installation of an advanced command post in Beni, but these statements are struggling to convince Goma and Butembo MP Muhindo Nganzi: Monusco has no forces able to follow the FARDC in the forest to fight the ADF given their fighting methods, he says. For five years, they tried to work together and they could not find a solution. "

He believes that it will be very difficult to restore confidence. " It was awkward for Monusco to say that it will not participate in ADF operations," he says. This very bad communication of Monusco is at the base of all this anger of the population. Of course, we know that the FARDC have real structural problems that prevent Monusco from collaborating, but in the context of this widespread war and killings, it was still risky to communicate that it will not participate in this. surgery. The government is trying to explain to the population that it is still possible to organize the operations together with Monusco, but I believe that for the population, trust is already permanently withdrawn from Monusco. Even on the side of the army, there are some officers who are very suspicious of Monusco, since it has refused to provide assistance in the case of wounded soldiers on the front. So it will be very difficult to restore trust between the population and Monusco, or even between the army and Monusco. "

The resurgence of attacks against the populations in the region corresponds to the launch of a unilateral operation of the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) against the rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

" We ask people not to make amalgam "

A delegation led by Congolese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Gilbert Kankonde arrived Tuesday in Goma to assess the security situation. He recalled the security efforts and military reinforcements on the ground. But he also sent a message to the people not to attack Monusco.

" We are asking people not to make amalgam, " he urged. The people must not follow manipulative messages that would suggest that Monusco would be part of the problem when it was international support that was needed and still needed to get the country out of the country. it is, and put it definitively on the path of peace and development. So, we are once again asking our people to keep calm. I know it's difficult when you're hit like you're in the Beni area. But this is the last station - if I can put it that way - so that we put this region definitely out of reach of the criminal forces that bereaved her. "

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