Congo's Protests Against the UN Lead to Numerous Fatalities

Is the United Nations peacekeeping or provoking violence in Africa?

The United Nations has invested more resources in peacekeeping efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) than almost any other region in the world, both financially and in terms of personnel. These missions, however, have been marred with controversies and incompetence. Claims of sexual misconduct and human trafficking have emerged as recurring issues among peacekeepers in the region. The existing legal framework, which defers jurisdiction for crimes committed by UN peacekeepers to their native countries instead of the host country, results in a legal vacuum wherein peacekeepers can abuse local residents without fear.

MONUSCO, the current UN mission in the DRC has been the focus of especially violent protests. According to U.N. records, confrontations against this mission last year resulted in the death of 17 individuals, including three U.N. staff members. In the cities of Goma and Butembo, protests culminated in the demise of six and eleven individuals, respectively. This popular discontent has led to political figures such as President Felix Tshisekedi to consider the possibility of putting an end to the mission altogether, especially with looming events like the December 2023 presidential elections. The U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres himself has hinted at the possibility of discontinuing MONUSCO's presence in the DRC.

Violence surrounding protests in the DRC peaked last week when local citizens in Goma congregated in a church to express their disapproval of the UN mission. The assembly was immediately met with a force from the Congolese military, leading to the death of 48 local residents. According to hospital sources at least another 57 people were injured. The exact circumstances and motivations behind the military's violent actions remain a subject of debate although it appears as though members of a Christian-animist religious sect had identified the homes of individual peacekeepers and were preparing to loot them after they were denied permission by the government to protest. In the DRC, it's distressingly frequent to see crowd control methods that involve directly shooting into gatherings at random.

In light of the ongoing allegations and the recent violent crackdown in Goma, there's a pressing need for the global community to re-evaluate the actions and effectiveness of the United Nations in its on-ground missions in the DRC. The staggering investment by the UN, both in terms of finances and manpower, should ideally reflect effectiveness and respect for the local communities. However, the recurrent scandals and seeming impunity experienced by the peacekeepers tarnish the mission's reputation. The absence of broader media coverage on these sensitive issues, particularly the recent bloodshed in Goma, suggests an underlying indifference.

At the heart of these concerns lies a fundamental question: If the peacekeeping mission, despite its vast resources, cannot safeguard the very people it's meant to protect, what does this imply about the international commitment to peace and justice?

-The Shultz Report by M. Shultz