The Congolese government has asked the United Nations for the departure in a "short time" of its spokesman in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"The government will appreciate very much that arrangements are made for Mathias Gillmann to leave Congolese territory as soon as possible ," Congolese Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula wrote to the head of MONUSCO .
"The presence of this official on the national territory is not likely to promote a climate of mutual trust and serenity so essential between the Congolese institutions and MONUSCO" , explained Christophe Lutundula.
"The comments made by Mathias Gillmann on RFI claiming that MONUSCO did not have the military means to deal with the M23 are at the root of the current tension. We have asked MONUSCO in a friendly manner to leave the country" , declared to AFP, a government source who did not wish to be identified.
Since July 25, angry demonstrators have ransacked and looted the facilities of the UN mission present in the DRC since 1999. Four peacekeepers were killed in Butembo and at least 28 demonstrators were killed in Goma , Butembo and Kanyabaonga (North Kivu). Four others were electrocuted in Uvira (South Kivu) during the dispersal of their march, according to an official report.
MONUSCO is one of the largest UN missions deployed in the world with some 14,000 soldiers in several cities in the east. Since 2019, pro-democracy movements and some local elected officials have been calling for the departure of MONUSCO. They accuse him of refusing to fight the hundred armed groups active in eastern Congo.
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