The United Nations Mission in the DRC, MONUSCO, will embark on an "accelerated withdrawal", said United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, as cited by the media. According to him, the UN mission in the African country, extended by one year last December, is entering "its final phase".
The UN chief warned that "a premature departure of Monusco could have consequences for the protection of civilians".
The mission, which involves more than 15,000 soldiers and police officers, recently triggered protests in certain areas of Eastern Congo where it operates, according to the press.
This mission took over from a previous UN peacekeeping operation – the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) – on July 1, 2010. It was launched to protect civilians, humanitarian personnel and to support the government of the DRC in its peace settlement efforts, according to the UN.
"Everyone has been concerned by the violence that occurred during recent demonstrations. Many of our interlocutors are concerned about hate speech, [...] discourse based on ethnic confrontation, and of course it is essential to put an end to such rhetoric," Guterres stressed.
More than 120 armed groups are reportedly operating in major parts of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, destabilizing the country and nearby territories. Last year, as the security situation deteriorated, the rebel group M23 rose up once again against the government. Given the situation that unfolded, members of the East African Community set up a regional force with a mandate to secure peace and stability in the country.
In December 2021, the DRC concluded an agreement with Uganda for conducting joint operations against armed groups in the bordering regions.
According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), 5.7 million people have been displaced in the DRC's eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri, since March 2022. Estimates show that the nation as a whole has seen 6.2 million people flee their homes, the greatest wave of migration in Africa, so far.
Last summer, amid the worsening security atmosphere in the eastern part of the country where the M23 group launched an uprising against the government, member countries of the East African Community (EAC) set up a mandated regional force to secure peace and stability. Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda have so far deployed their contingents to the DRC's eastern zone.
Since the troop deployment in the region, there has been a fragile ceasefire between the M23 and the regular Congolese forces. In May, East Africa's leaders decided to prolong the mandate of the regional military force until September. In a statement, the EAC pointed to its "tremendous progress in its efforts to restore peace and stability in the eastern DRC."