KINSHASA: A Pakistani UN peacekeeper was killed by “members of an armedgroup” in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, a United Nationsspokesperson said.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres “condemns the killing of apeacekeeper from Pakistan… following an ambush” in the troubled easternprovince of South Kivu, a UN spokesperson said.
He reaffirmed the UN’s willingness to continue to address the country’ssecurity challenges, despite tensions with the government.
On Friday Congolese President Joseph Kabila claimed the UN’s peacekeepingmission in the country MONUSCO had “eradicated” no armed group in nearly 20years.
He warned the mission not to consider the country “under the care of theUnited Nations” and said he would “clarify in the coming days ourrelations” with the world body.
MONUSCO, the largest of the UN missions, has been present in the countrysince 1999.
Sprawling, mineral-rich but mired in poverty, DR Congo is in the grip ofoverlapping political and ethnic crises, and much of the country’s east isin the hands of rival militia groups competing over resources.