MALAWI. Lilongwe: The United Nations (UN) has expressed dismay over the killing of a Malawian soldier in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu in Beni region.
A statement issued on May 10, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) urged Congolese authorities to bring the perpetrators of the act to book.
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“Deliberate attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law,” reads the statement in part.
The Malawian female soldier Chitenji
28 year old Kamanga was killed when rebels attacked her base on May 9.
She was drawn from Malawi’s Marine Forces based in the Lakeshore district of Mangochi.
Her death brings the death of Malawian peacekeepers in the DRC to six since 2017.
In 2018, four other soldiers were killed in an ambush by the rebels.
The Allied Democratic Forces ( ADF) is one of the notorious rebel groups in the DRC.
Why Do They Go To DRC?
In 1999, the UN established the Peace Keeping Mission in the country called MONUC after the Lusaka Peace Agreement between rebels and the DRC government.
DRC was known as Zaire under Mobutu Seseseko, but rebels led by Laurent Kabila helped by Uganda and Rwanda deposed Seseseko and formed the DRC.
Since then, rebel groups have controlled some areas especially mineral rich districts of the east, bordering Rwanda and Uganda’.
MONUSC was replaced by MONUSCO whose role was more of peace building in May 2010.
Its main task is to resolve the ongoing conflicts in the Congo provinces and protect civilians and other personnel.
The peace keeping mission in the DRC is one of the most expensive military operations carried by the UN in the world.
The government’s capacity to protect civilians is one of the yardsticks by which the mission is to withdraw from the country.
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