Anti-Western protests are continuing in the capital of the DR Congo as people set fire to barricades outside the French embassy and UN vehicles. The protests are demanding an end to Western complicity in the worsening conflict in the DR Congo as M23 rebels threaten to take Goma, a strategically important city in the east.
Almost seven million people have been displaced by the armed conflict within the country’s borders, with more than 135,000 of them displaced in just the last few weeks alone.
The UN mission, MONUSCO, has more than 17,000 staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has a budget of $1.1 billion for 2023, making it the world’s most expensive peacekeeping force. However, MONUSCO has faced mounting criticism for not stopping the armed conflict, raising concerns about the true motives behind its presence.
The DR Congo is at the epicenter of the UN’s sexual abuse scandal. It has the highest percentage of victims of sexual violence at the hands of UN troops.
Angry protesters burnt the flags of the US and Belgium, DR Congo’s former colonial power, during the protest.
Demonstrations have taken place outside several Western embassies in recent days .
In the latest protests, anti-riot police pushed back demonstrators as they tried to advance towards embassies.
“The Westerners are behind the looting of our country. Rwanda doesn’t work alone, so they must leave our country,” Pepin Mbindu, who joined the protest, was quoted as saying.
Rwanda has been accused of backing the M23 rebel group.