Leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo have asked the spokesman of a U.N. peacekeeping mission to leave the country, blaming him for protests that have erupted in several cities.
Country leaders have asked spokesman Mathias Gillmann to leave Congo after he made “indelicate and inappropriate” comments that stoked unrest.
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“The Congolese government considers that the presence of this official on the national territory is not likely to promote a climate of mutual trust and calm between Congolese institutions and MONUSCO,” the Congolese Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
The protests were ignited in response to Gillmann’s comment that “Monusco did not have the military means to deal with M23,” a rebel military group that was formed in 2012 to overthrow the government, a Congolese official told Africa News.
More than 35 people, including four U.N. peacekeepers, died last week, and another 170 were injured after hundreds of protesters vandalized several buildings and set them on fire, according to the Associated Press. The protest occurred after several Congolese residents accused the leaders of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or MONUSCO, of failing to protect them from militia violence that has plagued the country.
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The country’s government will reassess MONUSCO’s withdrawal timeline and consider proposals to remove the peacekeeping spokespeople earlier than previously planned. The U.N. has signaled it supports that move and will reconsider its withdrawal plan, which is set to remove officials in 2024.
Pro-democracy groups have long called for the removal of the mission, which was formed in 1999 by the U.N. to monitor peacekeeping operations after the Second Congo War.
