The United Nations Security Council has decided to phase out the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The soldiers will be withdrawn from now until next year.
The blue helmets, as the UN soldiers are called, have been present in the African country since 1999. The Congolese government has long been calling for the departure of the international force.
The peacekeeping mission, called Monusco, is one of the UN’s largest missions. Monusco had to help create order in a Congo torn apart by ethnic, political and criminal violence.
In this former Belgian colony, the dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko came to an end in 1997. Fighting broke out between multiple ethnic groups, militias, parties and neighboring countries, including Rwanda and Uganda. In the east, the hunt for valuable minerals played an important role in the protracted conflict.
The violence still continues. The Security Council remains “concerned about the escalation of violence in the east” of the country and about “tensions between Congo and Rwanda”.
2023-12-19 20:59:08
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