Predatory peacekeepers blight UN peacekeepers day
An ongoing rape scandal is casting a dark cloud over an occasion usually reserved for paying tribute to the ‘Blue Helmets’.
An ongoing rape scandal is casting a dark cloud over an occasion usually reserved for paying tribute to the ‘Blue Helmets’.
United Nations peacekeepers expressed fears on Friday for tens of thousands of displaced people under threat in the latest conflict zone in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Goma, capital of the eastern province of Nord-Kivu, has been rocked by clashes between rebels led by renegade General Laurent Nkunda and army troops.
Explosions and machine-gun fire echoed through the hills of east Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Friday, as government troops battled rebels for a third day amid a worsening humanitarian crisis that has displaced nearly 200 000 people in the past few months, a United Nations military spokesperson said.
United Nations peacekeepers will help the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) army disarm eastern dissident groups by force in violence-plagued North Kivu province, UN and Congolese commanders said. Army soldiers and fighters loyal to renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda clashed again on Thursday a few kilometres from Rutshuru.
The volatile east of the Democratic Republic of Congo braced for renewed fighting on Sunday after rebels refused to give up arms despite a government ultimatum to disarm or face a fresh offensive. The Congolese government has given forces under renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda until Monday to disarm.