New Delhi: Three UN troops, including two Indian peacekeepers, were killed on Tuesday, June 26, during an attack on the base of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, where violent anti-UN protests have been going on for over two days.
India’s external affairs minister S. Jaishankar announced on Twitter that two peacekeepers, deputed from the Border Security Force to MONUSCO, had lost their lives. “The perpetrators of these outrageous attacks must be held accountable and brought to justice,” he tweeted Tuesday night.
Deeply grieved at the loss of lives of two valiant Indian peacekeepers of the BSF in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They were part of the MONUSCO.
The perpetrators of these outrageous attacks must be held accountable and brought to justice .
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) July 26, 2022
According to a BBC report, at least ten people have died in protests against the UN peacekeeping force in the provincial capital, Goma. While seven of the dead are civilians, the others are UN personnel.
A press communique from MONUSCO noted that a peacekeeper and two members of UN Police were killed during an attack on the MONUSCO base. Another was also seriously injured.
The current UN mission, MONUSCO, took over from an earlier mission in 2010. It currently has over 17,000 personnel on ground. India is the second largest troop contributor, with 2000 personnel, after Pakistan.
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Indian troops have deployed in DRC as UN peacekeepers since 1960. With the latest fatalities, India has lost 53 soldiers in the central African nation.
MONUSCO stated that the attackers violently snatched weapons from government security personnel and “fired point-blank at and around peacekeeping forces”.
Asserting that this killing of the peacekeepers was unjustifiable, the press release reiterated that all its bases and installations were “inviolable under the Status of Forces Agreement between the United Nations and the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (SOFA), as well as the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations”.
Further, it stated that attacks against UN personnel and installations “constitute war crimes liable to proceedings before international courts”.
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BBC reported that local media had claimed the protestors were shot by peacekeepers.
On these reports of civilian casualties, MONUSCO stated that the mission had been restrained in responding to the violent assaults on the bases. It added that MONUSCO would cooperate with competent authorities investigating the deaths.
“We must salute the professionalism and mastery of the peacekeepers who, in each of their interventions, avoided bloodshed. MONUSCO thanks the authorities, political actors and civil society for their support alongside MONUSCO in these difficult times and reiterates its message of calm and peace to the demonstrators,” said the press note.
The protest began on Monday with hundreds of people blocking roads and chanting hostile slogans before storming the UN peacekeeping mission’s headquarters and a supply base in Goma, as per an AFP report.
Indian army officials were quoted in media reports as saying that Indian peacekeepers had robustly thwarted the looting attempts “strictly in accordance with UN mandate and rules of engagement”.
The news agency said that security forces were pushing back crowds outside the depot on Tuesday as protesters waved placards bearing slogans such as “bye-bye MONUSCO”. Anti-UN protesters also took to the streets in the North Kivu towns of Beni and Butembo.
The UN mission has been regularly criticised, especially by ruling DRC government members, for not doing enough to stop the violence by armed groups.
The latest protests come after the president of the senate, Modeste Bahati, told supporters in Goma on July 15 that MONUSCO should “pack its bags.” They coincide with the resurgence of the M23 – a militia that lay mostly dormant for years before resuming fighting last November, AFP reported.
Indian officials at the UN have regularly highlighted that there has always been a mismatch over the mandate and resources at UN peacekeeping missions.
At a March briefing of the UN Security Council on MONUSCO, India had stated that there had to be “greater clarity on the interpretation of the mandate, in respect of Force Intervention Brigade and other battalions is important”.
“This will help TCCs to have clear understanding of operations to be undertaken and to equip appropriately. It is especially important from the point of view of safety and security of peacekeepers,” said the Indian representative.