UN Peacekeeping Forces Are Starting To Gradually Withdraw From Eastern Congo
JAKARTA - The UN peacekeeping force began withdrawing gradually from the turbulent eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday, handing over a base to Congo authorities, the peacekeeping mission said in a statement.
Peacekeeping forces, who are members of the MONUSCO mission, have been deployed in the country for more than 13 years, taking over from previous UN operations in 2010 to help address insecurity in the eastern part of the Central African nation, where armed groups are fighting over territory and resources.
But in recent years, the presence of these 13,500-strong troops has become increasingly unpopular, because it is considered to have failed to protect civilians from increasing militia violence, sparking deadly protests.
The UN Security Council approved the shutdown of the mission in December, after President Felix Tshisekedi in September requested that the mission be withdrawn.
At the Kamanyola base in Kivu Selatan, Pakistan's peacekeeping contingent lowered the UN flag, when the head of MONUSCO Bintou Keita handed over the key to the local provincial government.
The base, which was founded in 2005, will be managed by the national police, the United Nations said.
"We hope that the handover of Kamanyola, combined with the ongoing construction of the Congo National Police substation by MONUSCO, will be a model and inspiration for the next MONUSCO release process," Keita said in a statement.
The first phase of this three stages of withdrawal will cause about 2,000 troops to leave 14 bases in South Kivu province by the end of April. The mission will be withdrawn from North Kivu Province and Ituri in the next phase.
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Civil society leader Asifiwe Balagizi Andre said the handover was a historic event.
"We are now calling on our government to play its full role in ensuring the safety of their population and property," he said.
It is known, the security situation in the country is still acute. Clashes escalated between the Congolese army and the Rwanda-backed M23 Tutsi rebels in eastern Congo, causing the number of internally displaced persons in North Kivu alone to reach 1.6 million people by mid-February, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis that has been going on for decades.