The situation in Beni, Democratic Republic of the Congo - Press Conference (26 November 2019)

Описание: In the wake of an attack against its headquarters in Beni, which left the building badly damaged, the Head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), Leila Zerrougui, today (26 Nov) said the situation is “very disturbing,” as the Mission faces “demonstrations from people that are frustrated with attacks from armed groups.”

On Monday (25 Nov) an angry crowd set fire to the UN office and the town hall in the eastern city to protest failure by Government troops and peacekeepers in preventing a deadly weekend attack by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group, according to media reports.

Briefing via teleconference from the DRC, Zerrougui noted that "this area is the area affected by Ebola’ and is an area that “went through hell for the last 20 years, so the population paid a very high price.”

She said Beni is " a forest area, not easy to access, and population is living in many areas, many villages, not easy to protect every person.”

The MONUSCO official said “when you put in a mandate that you have an offensive mandate, then people expect you to finish the enemy. But it’s not easy to finish the enemy. Because you are dealing with a terrorist group using subversive and terrorist tactics; attacking civilians in the middle of the night.”

As protests continue, staff at the UN mission have been redeployed to other areas for their safety.

Beni is a key base for the UN and DRC Government efforts to tackle the more than year-long Ebola outbreak in the eastern region, which has seen nearly 3,000 deaths since August 2018.

Around 16,000 blue helmets serve with MONUSCO.

There are 557 UN peacekeepers from Malawi in Beni, together with a Formed Police Unit from India with around 150 officers, while 150 Tanzanian peacekeepers are stationed at the airport there.