United Nations peacekeepers in DR Congo will begin departing the country in an "accelerated withdrawal,” the global body’s Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said, confirming the departure of one of the missions first deployed 25 years ago.
In a report tabled to the UN Security Council, Guterres said the Stabilisation Mission deployed to DR Congo, and known by its French acronym MONUSCO, will leave the country, concluding a controversial chapter but potentially leaving behind a void that could worsen the country’s violence, The East African reports.
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MONUSCO’S mandate was extended by a year in December 2023 "on exceptional basis” of its intervention brigade. But the mission with more than 15,000 soldiers and police officers has been controversial, eliciting protests in parts of Eastern Congo where it operates.
Some civilians accuse the mission of being lethargic in an area where more than one hundred-armed groups roam and maim at will.
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Guterres says MONUSCO is entering "its final phase” in DR Congo. And according to a plan set out in his report, the Mission will have to begin "an accelerated withdrawal,” even though the security and humanitarian situation is "deteriorating sharply.”
In the same report, the UN Secretary-General warns that "a premature departure of MONUSCO could have consequences for the protection of civilians.”
MONUSCO, whose mandate has morphed over the years, was first deployed 25 years ago. But its success is a matter of contest. The Congolese authorities agreed with the United Nations that the Mission entirely leaves at the end of 2024.
This gradual and phased withdrawal of MONUSCO by 2024 was laid down by the UN Security Council resolution in 2020. Guterres's announcement means there won’t be debate on whether the mandate can be extended.
Several MONUSCO offices in the provinces of Kasai and Kasai-Central, in central DRC, have already closed. In June 2022, some troops under MONUSCO and operating in Tanganyika province, in the south-east parts of the country, departed.
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After a spate of violence that marked the protests against MONUSCO’s presence in North Kivu in July 2022, which left 36 people dead, including 3 peacekeepers; the mission also closed shop in Butembo, in North Kivu province.
Following the protests, Tshisekedi also said that "after the presidential election in December 2023... there will be no reason for MONUSCO to remain in the DRC.”
For now, however, there is uncertainty on whether the elections will be held as scheduled. The country is struggling to raise the budget needed for the elections. At least $500 million is needed to secure the elections across the country.
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Paradoxically, this defiance of the peacekeeping mission comes at a time when security and humanitarian conditions are deteriorating, particularly in North Kivu and Ituri, where armed groups regularly attack civilians.
The Council urged "all Congolese armed groups to participate unconditionally in the East African Community led Nairobi process to seek political conditions in preparation for the disarmament, demobilisation, community recovery and stabilisation programme (P-DDRCS), and foreign armed groups to return to their countries of origin...”
It also called on the "the Government of the DRC to take further action to address the threat posed by armed groups, combining military and non-military approaches consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”