At least two people were killed Sunday when UN peacekeepers opened fire on the border crossing between Uganda and the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“Soldiers of the intervention brigade of the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) opened fire on their return from vacation at the border checkpoint for unreasonable reasons and prevented the crossing,” the UN mission said in a statement. said, adding that this serious incident resulted in deaths and serious injuries, without providing accurate casualty figures.
UN Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Bento Keita expressed “deep shock at this serious incident,” the mission said in a statement.
“Faced with this shameful and irresponsible behavior, those responsible for the shooting have been identified and arrested pending the outcome of an investigation that has already begun in cooperation with the Congolese authorities,” the statement said.
He continued: “In addition, contacts were established with the homeland of these soldiers in order to be able to urgently initiate trials with the participation of victims and witnesses in order to receive exemplary punishment as soon as possible.”
“Two people died,” said Joel Kitusa, a civil society representative in Kasindi, adding that 14 others were injured.
And last week, people died during demonstrations against peacekeeping forces in several cities in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The demonstrators accuse the peacekeepers of being ineffective in the face of hundreds of armed groups responsible for the chaos that has plunged the country’s eastern provinces.
Source: AFP.