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DRC: Kinshasa in anger against MONUC

By on April 13, 2010
A few months prior to its withdrawal from DRC, the Congolese government’s charge against MONUC, looks like an account settling. Kinshasa accuses the UN of failing to protect civilians during the attack of Mbandaka in Equateur province. However, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) does not want to delay the withdrawal of MONUC. The charges come amid Kinshasa wants to see the peacekeepers leaving the country by June.

The Minister of Information, Lambert Mende, who stepped into the breach accusing the MONUC peacekeepers to have remained “comfortable in their quarters” and witnessing the first victims being killed. “This brings us seriously to question the methodology implemented by the UN mission in protecting civilian population” he said.
MONUC has of course denied the story and said it was not certain that the incident would have an impact on a possible withdrawal plan… However, the standoff continues between the UN and Kinshasa for troop withdrawal before the festivities of the fiftieth independence anniversary of the DRC in June.
Western diplomats and observers in Kinshasa have made two observations:
* the critics are “mostly hiding the failures of the Armed Forces of DRC (FARDC), which had totally underestimated the threat to Mbandaka, a town on the banks of the Congo River about 700 km north of Kinshasa.
* This renewed tension is building up because of the expected visit of U.N delegation of the Security Council expected on 18 and 19 April in the DRC to finalize discussions with the Congolese government before setting the new mandate of the Mission.

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