10 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United Nations confirmed on Tuesday that a South African peacekeeper from the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has died after an explosive device detonated near the dormitories of the Beni military base, located in the province of North Kivu (east).
UN Secretary-General spokesman Stéphane Dujarric, who has conveyed his “deepest and most heartfelt condolences to the family of the peacekeepers and to the people and Government of South Africa,” said during a press conference that a grenade exploded next to the tent and that the mission is investigating the cause of the explosion.
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) had previously confirmed the death of one of its members deployed in Congolese territory in an incident that took place on Monday. The South African Army has not identified the deceased, as it is waiting for the procedures to be completed to bring his remains to his country of origin and for his family to be informed about the matter.
“It is not clear what caused the hand grenade to explode, however, a board of inquiry will be convened including UN officials to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident,” reads a statement posted on the social media profile X.
At the request of the authorities, this mission is in the process of withdrawing from the east of the country, where the armed crisis with the militias of the March 23 Movement (M23) has caused a humanitarian catastrophe, as the population has fled en masse to the displaced persons camps in the capital, Goma, where they subsist in inhumane conditions while accusing the Army of standing idly by in the face of the militias, despite the fact that the province has been under a state of emergency since 2021, theoretically to facilitate military operations.
The M23, which the Congolese government says operates with Rwandan backing, a claim Rwandan authorities strongly deny, is a rebel group made up mainly of Congolese Tutsis and operates mainly in the province. Following a conflict between the DRC and the group in 2012 and 2013, a peace agreement was signed in December between the DRC and the group. In those clashes, the Congolese army was supported by UN troops.
The group launched a new offensive in October 2022, which intensified from November, triggering a diplomatic crisis between the DRC and Rwanda over its role in the conflict. Kigali has accused Kinshasa of supporting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed rebel group founded and composed mainly of Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
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