标签： Africa

The United Nations Security Council has issued a forceful condemnation of Rwanda’s military presence in the Democratic Republic of Congo while simultaneously extending the mandate of its peacekeeping mission for an additional year. This decisive action comes despite a recently brokered peace agreement between the two African nations.

In a unanimously adopted resolution on Friday, the UN’s most powerful body denounced the ongoing offensive by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group and explicitly demanded that Kigali cease all support for the insurgents and immediately withdraw its forces from Congolese territory. The resolution maintains approximately 11,500 UN military personnel in the country under the MONUSCO peacekeeping mission.

The diplomatic developments coincide with contested claims regarding the strategic city of Uvira in eastern Congo. While M23 rebels announced a withdrawal from the city they seized last week, Congolese authorities dismissed the move as “staged” and asserted that rebel forces remain present. U.S. Deputy Ambassador Jennifer Locetta addressed the Security Council, demanding M23 immediately retreat at least 75 kilometers (47 miles) from Uvira.

This escalation occurs despite a U.S.-mediated peace agreement signed earlier this month by the presidents of Congo and Rwanda in Washington. Notably, the accord did not include the M23 rebel group, which has been conducting separate negotiations with Congolese officials. The agreement obligates Rwanda to terminate support for armed groups like M23 and work toward ceasing hostilities.

According to UN experts, the Congo government, and United States officials, Rwanda has been backing M23, which has dramatically expanded from hundreds of fighters in 2021 to approximately 6,500 combatants today. Eastern Congo, particularly the mineral-rich border region with Rwanda, remains contested by more than 100 armed groups, with M23 being the most prominent. The protracted conflict has created one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, displacing over 7 million people according to UN refugee agencies.

The MONUSCO force, which arrived in Congo in 2010, faces growing local frustration. Many Congolese citizens report feeling unprotected from rebel attacks, leading to sometimes deadly protests against the UN mission. In response to these concerns and at the request of the Congolese government, the Security Council previously voted unanimously in 2023 to begin drawing down the peacekeeping force and gradually transferring security responsibilities to national authorities.

The United Nations concludes a devastating year with an unprecedented wave of violence targeting its personnel across multiple global hotspots. In a series of brutal incidents that underscore the deteriorating security environment for international organizations, six UN peacekeepers perished in a drone strike in Sudan’s South Kordofan region, while nine others sustained injuries. Simultaneously, a UN interpreter in South Sudan died under mysterious circumstances while detained by local security forces, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels escalated their crackdown by detaining ten additional UN staff members.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric expressed grave concern about these developments, noting that the iconic UN emblem no longer provides the protection it once guaranteed. ‘We see all too often that the UN flag no longer offers the protection that it should to our colleagues,’ Dujarric stated during a Friday press briefing. He emphasized that UN personnel—whether humanitarian workers, peacekeepers, or political envoys—operate solely for peace and civilian welfare, deserving universal respect and protection.

The Security Council vehemently condemned the Sudan drone attack as ‘heinous and deliberate,’ characterizing it as demonstrating ‘egregious disregard for international law.’ The council demanded immediate investigations and justice for perpetrators, reiterating that attacks against peacekeepers may constitute war crimes.

In South Sudan, tragedy struck when Bol Roch Mayol, a long-serving interpreter with the UN mission since 2011, was forcibly removed from a disabled UN vehicle by five soldiers following a routine patrol. Despite engagement with authorities for his release, the mission received notification of his death in custody. South Sudanese police confirmed the arrest of three soldiers, including Army Lt. Lino Mariak Chol, who allegedly confessed to the killing.

The crisis deepened in Yemen where Houthi rebels, controlling Sanaa and northern territories, detained ten additional UN staffers, bringing the total number of detained personnel to sixty-nine. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned these arbitrary detentions and demanded immediate release of all personnel, including those from NGOs and diplomatic missions. Guterres additionally called for dropping charges against three UN staffers referred to a Houthi special criminal court—the same court that recently convicted seventeen individuals of espionage in a widespread crackdown on Yemenis working with international organizations.

These incidents follow earlier tragedies including over 300 UN staff fatalities in the Israel-Hamas conflict and more than 300 personnel deaths during Mali’s decade-long peacekeeping mission, which concluded as the world’s deadliest UN operation in December 2023.