An AFP journalist reported that protesters stormed a UN base in the eastern Congolese city of Goma on Monday and demanded that peacekeepers leave the region.
Before storming the Goma headquarters of the UN peacekeeping mission and a logistical base outside of the city, hundreds of people blocked roads and chanted anti-UN chants.
An AFP journalist saw the protestors shatter windows and steal computers, furniture, and other goods from the headquarters while UN police forces shot tear gas to try to drive them away.
A student was shot in the leg at the logistical base, the AFP journalist continued.
Locals frequently criticise MONUSCO, the UN peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for what they believe to be its inability to put an end to fighting in the region’s conflict-torn east.
The unstable area, where violence has forced millions of people from their homes and mass killings of civilians are frequent, is home to over 120 armed groups.
Ahead of Monday’s protest, the Goma youth branch of the ruling UDPS party released a statement demanding MONUSCO “withdraw from Congolese soil without conditions because it has already proved its incapacity to provide us with protection”.
Although the UN is not against protests, Khassim Diagne, the deputy special representative of the UN secretary general to MONUSCO, said that violence is unacceptable.
“These are looters…We condemn them in the strongest terms,” declared Khassim Diagne.
The most recent demonstration happened after Modeste Bahati, the president of the Congolese senate, told supporters in Goma on July 15 that MONUSCO should “pack its bags.”