In late July 2022, anti-MONUSCO protests manifested in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. The protests were against

MONUSCO The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or MONUSCO, an acronym based on its French name , is a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which was estab ...

, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

' peacekeeping force in the country, which has been accused by Congolese politicians and civilians of failing to take action to end the decades-old conflict within the country. The protestors demanded that MONUSCO leave the country.

Protests

On 25 July 2022, protests began in the Congolese city of

Goma Goma is the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the Albertine Rift, the ...

against

, which the protestors accused of failing to take action to end the decades-old conflict within the country, and more protests later manifested the following day in

Beni is a Japanese R&B singer, who debuted in 2004 under the Avex Trax label. In 2008, Arashiro left Avex Trax and transferred to Universal Music Japan where she started to perform as simply Beni (stylized as BENI). She was initially best known fo ...

and

Butembo Butembo is a city in North Kivu, in the north eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, lying west of the Virunga National Park. The city is an important commercial centre with large markets, a cathedral, multiple large hospitals, and an airport. The ...

. According to MONUSCO, protestors stole weapons from the police, and vandalized and looted UN facilities, forcing UN personnel to evacuate the MONUSCO headquarters in Goma via a helicopter airlift. The newspaper ''

The North Africa Post ''The North Africa Post'' is a regional newspaper in the English language that was started in 2012. It aims to provide "global analysis of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region and beyond" The paper started as a web version with the pla ...

'' alleged that

March 23 Movement The March 23 Movement (french: Mouvement du 23 mars), often abbreviated as M23 and also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army (''Armée révolutionnaire du Congo''), is a rebel military group that is for the most part formed of ethnic Tutsi. ...

rebels had used the unrest as a cover, and been responsible for the attack on a contingent of Moroccan MONUSCO peacekeepers at Nyamilima during the protests.

Deaths

According to Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya, five people were killed and a further 50 more were injured in Goma. Colonel Paul Ngoma, the police chief of Butembo, stated that seven people were killed in the city, and MONUSCO stated that one peacekeeper and two BSF police officers were also killed in Butembo. On 27 July, four protestors were electrocuted by an electrical cable which was downed by UN soldiers. On 31 July, two people were killed and fifteen were injured in Beni when UN soldiers opened fire at a Congolese border post, forcing their way into the country from

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

. A UN representative stated that the soldiers in question were arrested pending an investigation into the incident. By 1 August, two Moroccan peacekeepers, namely Chief Corporal Azzouz Zhenadi and Major Mohammed Rami, and two Indian policemen, Shishupal Singh and Sanwala Ram Vishnoi, had been killed during the protests. According to an official report by the DR Congo government, 36 people had been killed and 170 wounded during the protests by August.

Reactions

* : Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for the United Nations, stated: "He /nowiki>António_Guterres.html" ;"title="António_Guterres.html" ;"title="/nowiki>António Guterres">/nowiki>António Guterres">António_Guterres.html" ;"title="/nowiki>António Guterres">/nowiki>António Guterres/nowiki> underscores that any attack directed against United Nations peacekeepers may constitute a war crime and calls upon the Congolese authorities to investigate these incidents and swiftly bring those responsible to justice." * : ** Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi mainly condemned the shooting of protesters by MONUSCO members. ** The party

Forces for Renewal The Forces for Renewal (french: Forces du Renouveau), generally still known by its original name RCD-Kisangani-Movement for Liberation (RCD/K-ML), is a political party in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The party originated as a breakaway factio ...

condemned the attacks and looting during the protests, and urged the Congolese people to not regard MONUSCO as enemies.

Aftermath

In early August, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo expelled UN spokesman Mathias Gillmann from the country, stating that he made "indelicate and inappropriate" statements which led to the high tensions between MONUSCO and the country's citizens. Congolese foreign affairs minister Christophe Lutundula stated that the Congolese government intended to speed up the process of MONUSCO's withdrawal from the country, which was originally planned for 2024.

Protests

Deaths

Reactions

Aftermath

References

Further reading