In a horrific attack that is being called the “worst attack in recent history” by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, at least 14 UN peacekeepers and 5 Congolese air force members were killed this week in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A further 53 UN peacekeepers were wounded. The attack took place at the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) base in Beni, North Kivu. The peacekeepers were, according to Farhan Haq, UN deputy spokesperson, mainly from Tanzania and were part of the MONUSCO mission. It is suspected that rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces, who have previously repeatedly attacked peacekeepers in the area, were responsible for the attack. It appears that the attack was well-coordinated and, according to Maman Sidikou, head of MONUSCO, “aimed at weakening our resolve to fully and faithfully implement our mandate to bring peace and stability to the DRC.”
A statement by the MONUSCO mission said that the rebels had attacked the operating base on Thursday evening. The base houses UN peacekeepers mandated to carry out offensive operations. The result was protracted fighting between the suspected ADF rebel forces and the MONUSCO and FARDC forces. The Associated Press news agency reported that a local news agency citing military sources stated that the fighting lasted four hours. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping, tweeted that reinforcement has been sent to the scene of the attack and medical evacuations were underway. The head of MONUSCO, Maman Sidikou, said, “I condemn in the strongest terms this deadly attack on the United Nations peacekeepers and the FARDC. MONUSCO will take actions to ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable and brought to justice.”
Eastern DR Congo has suffered huge instability for years due to rebel groups, the ADF being just one of many, fighting for control of territory. Several armed militias are fighting for control of mineral-rich lands in North Kivu and they often clash with Congolese troops and UN peacekeepers. MONUSCO is designed to act as a stabilizing force in the country and is the UN’s largest and most expensive peacekeeping operation. Operating since 2010 it has around 19,000 active peacekeepers. However, earlier this year the UN publicized a plan to cut the number of peacekeepers to 3000. At this stage it is unclear how this attack will impact the funding and deployment of peacekeepers for the MONUSCO mission.
MONUSCO has also faced violent demonstrations by civilians, who accuse it of being ineffective. In June, 2017, Al Jazeera reported that DRC civilians perceived the MONUSCO mission of being reactive rather that protective in the face of violence from armed rebel groups. Prior to this attack, aid agencies said that conflict had forced 1.7 million people in DR Congo to flee their homes this year. The Norwegian Refugee Council’s DR Congo director, Ulrika Blom, described the situation as “a mega-crisis”, further elaborating by saying “the scale of people fleeing violence is off the charts, outpacing Syria, Yemen and Iraq.”
According to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres this was the worst attack on UN peacekeepers in recent history, the most recent attack on UN peacekeepers having taken place in northern Mali in September where at least 4 peacekeepers and one Malian soldier were killed. Guterres said, “These deliberate attacks against UN peacekeepers are unacceptable and constitute a war crime…I want to express my outrage and utter heartbreak at last night’s attack. There must be no impunity for assaults, here or anywhere else…I condemn this attack unequivocally.”
Statements of condemnation are critical. However it is essential that those who perpetrated the attack are held accountable through action. It is important that a clear message is sent to the perpetrators of the violent attacks in the DCR so that rebel groups worldwide receive the message that violent attacks on UN peacekeepers and stabilization forces will not be tolerated. It is unclear how this attack will impact the UN’s previous position of decreasing the number of peacekeepers in DCR. Maintaining some presence of UN peacekeepers in DCR will send the message to rebel groups that UN peacekeeping missions will not be deterred by violence and therefore violent attacked are ineffective and inefficient.
