DRC: one dead and one seriously injured after shooting at a Monusco helicopter

A South African peacekeeper was killed and another seriously injured on Sunday February 5 when their helicopter was fired on in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a UN spokesman.

© AFP - ALEXIS HUGUET/AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

A South African peacekeeper was killed and another seriously injured on Sunday February 5 when their helicopter was fired on in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a UN spokesman. 

Advertisement

Read more

It was at 2:30 p.m. local time that an Oryx helicopter from Monusco, the UN mission in the DRC, was hit by gunfire while returning from a mission in Beni.

Inside, the three crew members were South African.

The flight engineer was killed, while the pilot suffered an arm injury.

And it was the co-pilot who took matters into his own hands and who managed to land the aircraft at Goma international airport.

According to a well-informed military source, the aircraft was attacked in the north of Goma while carrying ammunition.

Fights between the army and the M23 

Still according to the same source, the weapon used and the exact location have not yet been determined.

It would nevertheless be small caliber or automatic weapons.

The investigations will be launched once the survivors have been heard.

For the moment, officially, Monusco remains extremely cautious.

The teams are still in shock, almost a year after another attack against another UN mission helicopter.

in the crash of their helicopter above a combat zone between the Congolese army and the M23 rebels.

Since November 2021, the predominantly Tutsi M23 rebellion has taken over territories north of Goma.

The DRC accuses Rwanda of supporting it, which is corroborated by UN experts and Western countries, but Kigali denies this.

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

• ground floor

• UN

• M23