Death toll rises to 22 during protests against UN presence in DRC

GOMA (DRC), July 28 (DPA/EP) –

The number of people killed during protests against the United Nations presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has risen to 22, according to local authorities.

The government spokesman, Patrick Muyaya Katembwe, confirmed this Wednesday the number of people who have lost their lives in the demonstration, and has detailed that another 67 people were injured, some of them seriously.

The unrest began on Monday, when violent protesters stormed a UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MINUSCO) building in the city of Goma, in North Kivu province.

Civil society organizations had initially reported six deaths, and the government reported Tuesday night 18 dead, including a UN peacekeeper soldier, two UN police officers and 15 civilians.

The protests took place after the president of the Congolese Senate, Modeste Bahati, asked MONUSCO on July 15 to “pack its bags” after 22 years of a presence in which “it has not been able to impose peace in the east of the country”.

MONUSCO has been stationed in northeast Congo for more than 20 years, in an attempt to shore up peace in the country despite the presence of some 130 different armed groups vying for control of the DRC’s vast natural resources, which They include copper, cobalt, gold and diamonds.