“The presence of this official on the national territory is not likely to promote a climate of mutual trust and serenity, so essential between Congolese institutions and Monusco,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Christophe Lutundula.
Le Monde with AFP
The Congolese government has asked the United Nations the departure of its spokesperson in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to an official correspondence consulted on Wednesday August 3 by the France-Presse (AFP) agency. “The government will appreciate (…) Much that arrangements are made so that Mathias Gillmann leaves Congolese territory as soon as possible,” wrote Congolese Foreign Minister, Christophe Lutundula, to the head of the organization’s mission of the United Nations for stabilization in the Democratic Republic of Congo (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 Congolese institutions and Monusco,” said Mr. Lutundula.
“The remarks made by Mr. Gillmann on RFI claiming that Monusco did not have military means to cope with the M23 are the basis of current tension. We asked the Monusco in a friendly person that he leaves the country “said a government source that did not wish to be identified.
thirty-six dead
Since July 25, angry demonstrators have ransacked and looted the installations of the UN mission present in the DRC since 1999.
four peacekeepers were killed in Butembo and at least 28 demonstrators found the Died in Goma, Butembo and Kanyabaonga (North Kivu). Four others were electrocuted in Uvira (South Kivu) during the dispersion of their march, according to an official assessment.
Monusco is one of the most important UN missions deployed in the world, with some 14,000 soldiers in several cities in the eastern country.
Since 2019, the pro -democracy movements and some local elected officials call at the start of the Monusco. They criticize the UN mission for refusing to fight the hundred armed groups active in the Congolese East.