“At least five dead, fifty injured,” wrote on Twitter Patrick Muyaya, government spokesman promising to return to a joint press conference with the deputy head of the UN Mission “on the human toll, material, as well as the consequences to be drawn” from these events.
According to an AFP correspondent on the spot, a bullet was apparently fired around 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) from inside the logistics base of Monusco (UN Mission in the DRC) in Goma and hit a young protester. in the head. A Congolese army ambulance then picked up the body, according to this correspondent.
Early in the morning, hundreds of demonstrators invaded the surroundings of the Monusco logistics base and attacked the mission’s transit camp located outside the city center of Goma, capital of the troubled province of North Kivu.
“We no longer want Monusco”, “bye bye Monusco”, said posters of this anti-UN mission “campaign” in the DRC. Congolese security forces contained the crowd near the logistics base.
“We confirm having received 28 gunshot wounds yesterday and this morning we have just received 8 gunshot wounds. Some are in critical condition. But we have not yet recorded any deaths at home,” Serge told AFP. Kilumbiro, in charge of the administration of CBCA Ndosho Hospital.
– Beni and Butembo paralyzed –
In Beni, a town 350 km north of Goma in North Kivu (east), activities were paralyzed by anti-Monusco demonstrators.
In several neighborhoods, tires are burned. Service stations are closed as well as shops and markets.
Soldiers are deployed on national road N°4 which leads to the local Monusco base in the city.
The situation was the same in Butembo, an important commercial hub in North Kivu where activities were paralyzed.
In front of a Monusco base, demonstrators were dispersed by the security forces, according to witnesses.
On Monday, hundreds of demonstrators stormed the Monusco headquarters in Goma and its logistics base, demanding the departure of peacekeepers from the DRC.
These demonstrators then broke windows, walls and looted computers, chairs, tables and valuables.
“Monusco strongly denounces the attack on its premises in Goma, in North Kivu, perpetrated by a group of looters on the sidelines of a demonstration which, moreover, was banned by the mayor of the city of Goma”, the mission wrote in a statement at the time.
The Congolese government had also condemned “any form of attack against United Nations personnel and installations”, according to Mr. Muyaya, promising that “those responsible will be prosecuted and severely punished”.
Present in the DRC since 1999, MONUC (UN Mission in Congo) which became Monusco (UN Mission for Stabilization in the DRC) in 2010, currently has more than 14,000 peacekeepers.