UN mission to start phased pullout from Congo in April

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - The UN Organization Stabilization Mission in Congo (MONUSCO) is to start its gradual withdrawal from eastern Congo in April, the foreign minister announced Saturday.

Christophe Lutundula said the mission would ensure “responsible” withdrawal as he spoke at a news conference with MONUSCO head, Bintou Keita, in Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo,

“The withdrawal will take place in three phases, starting with the departure of peacekeepers from South Kivu by the end of April,” he said. “Then it will be the turn of North Kivu and followed by Ituri. By Dec. 31, the gradual responsible and exemplary withdrawal from the mission will be completed.”

He said the withdrawal has commenced even when it is not yet at the stage of seeing troops boarding planes.

Keita said government troops would strengthen their presence in South Kivu, particularly in places where internally displaced persons live under the protection of UN peacekeepers.

She said the UN agreed with the government to hold an assessment every three months on the state of the implementation of the withdrawal plan.

MONUSCO has been deployed in eastern DR Congo since 1999.

But the UN announced it would begin a phased withdrawal of its largest mission in 2020.

Last year, speaking at the 78th UN General Assembly session in New York, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi expressed disappointment with the effectiveness of the heavily funded UN mission of about 15,000 peacekeepers in stemming violence.

Thousands of people in the two most conflict-affected eastern DR Congo provinces of North Kivu and Ituri live in camps.

A series of protests have previously erupted in the Congo against the UN peacekeeping force, which residents accuse of failing to curb violence by multiple armed groups.