Human Rights Watch HRW, a rights protection group, has condemned security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the deaths of at least 43 DRC protesters at the anti-UN protests, following the Congolese Government’s official announcement on Thursday.
HRW accused the military of “targeted shootings of civilians”, following the killings that occurred in the eastern city of Goma on Wednesday, August 30, when the army, in an attempt to disband a large group of people protesting against UN Peacekeepers, opened fire. At least 43 people were killed, 56 injured, and not less than 150 arrested in the protests.
Part of the report published on Human Rights Watch titled “DR Congo: Deadly Crackdown in Goma” reads:
“Congolese security forces shot and killed dozens of protesters, and wounded scores more, gathering in the city of Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on August 30, 2023. The security forces also arrested several dozen people. A mystic religious sect called Natural Judaic and Messianic Faith Towards the Nations had planned the protest to call on the United Nations peacekeeping mission and the East African Community regional force to leave the country. The authorities had banned the demonstration.
“Human Rights Watch authenticated two videos showing Congolese soldiers from an elite unit throwing bodies onto the back of a truck. There are credible reports that most of the bodies were being kept in a morgue at a military hospital, to which the deceased’s family members are not allowed access. In addition to the casualties among the demonstrators, one police officer was stoned to death, according to the security forces.”
Thomas Fessy, a senior Congo researcher at Human Rights Watch, describes the killing of the DRC protesters as “an extremely callous as well as unlawful way to enforce a ban.”
“Congolese military forces appear to have fired into a crowd to prevent a demonstration, an extremely callous as well as unlawful way to enforce a ban.
“For two years, the military authorities have used the ‘state of siege’ – martial law – in North Kivu province to brutally crack down on fundamental liberties,” he said.
HRW has called on the Congolese authorities to “immediately grant family members access to the victims,” adding that “senior military officials who ordered the use of unlawful lethal force should be suspended, investigated, and held accountable in fair and public trials.”
This is not the first time Congolese citizens have staged protests against the United Nations Peacekeepers.
In the year 2020, deadly protests broke out in DRC as protesters demanded for the withdrawal of UN soldiers from the Central African country. The locals had perceived that the UN forces were no longer serving their purpose of securing the country, and thus, overstayed their welcome.
At least 36 DRC protesters and four peacekeepers died, and not less than 170 were injured in the protests.
“There was an accident at the border between Uganda and the DRC yesterday (Sunday).
“Some UN peacekeepers came back from vacation, and when they got to the border, the (DRC) immigration service told them to come back after three days … because there is a lot of pressure at the moment in the DRC. But they decided to force their way through and started shooting. Two people died and 15 people were wounded.”
“People are upset and tired of UN peacekeepers in the DRC because they have been here for the past 20 years, but the security situation hasn’t changed a lot,” DRC’s communications minister and government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya explained.
