Goma, DRC : UN Peacekeeping Mission Looted / 3 UN Troops / 15 Civilians Killed / Riots Worsening : AFP

UN Civilian Personnel Being escorted by UN Troops Walk Out of the Area

Three peacekeepers killed as anti-UN protests spread in DR Congo

AFP - 5h ago

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Three United Nations peacekeepers and at least 12 demonstrators have been killed in escalating anti-UN protests in eastern DR Congo, officials said on Tuesday.


© Michael LunangaProtesters attacked the UN base in Goma on Tuesday for the second day running

Anger has been fuelled by perceptions that MONUSCO, the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is failing to do enough to stop attacks by armed groups.

Crowds on Monday stormed a MONUSCO headquarters and supply base in Goma, the chief city in North Kivu province, and the protests spread on Tuesday to Beni and Butembo to the north.

Butembo police chief Colonel Paul Ngoma said three peacekeepers there -- two Indians and a Moroccan -- had been killed and another injured, while seven demonstrators had died and several others were wounded.

Earlier, government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said on Twitter that "at least five people (were) dead, about 50 wounded" in Goma.

The security forces had fired "warning shots" at protesters to stop attacks on UN personnel, he said.

MONUSCO is one of the world's biggest peacekeeping operations.

But it has regularly come under criticism in the troubled east, where many accuse it of failing to do enough to end decades-long bloodshed.

More than 120 armed groups roam the volatile region, where civilian massacres are common and conflict has displaced millions of people.

In Monday's unrest, hundreds of people in Goma blocked roads and chanted hostile slogans before storming MONUSCO's headquarters and a supply base there.