UN peacekeepers close base in preparation to leave DR Congo

The UN mission has been told to leave due to inefficiency in protecting civilians from armed conflict.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has helped in the fight against rebels for more than two decades, has closed one of its key bases as it prepares to leave the Central African nation this year at the request of the government.

The mission, also known as MONUSCO, closed a major base near the city of Bukavu in a ceremony on Thursday attended by Bintou Keita, the head of MONUSCO, along with DRC military and government officials.

The base, along with others slated to close by the end of the year, will be handed over to the military.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a briefing at the organisation’s headquarters in New York on Thursday that peacekeepers from Pakistan, who constituted the bulk of the forces deployed in South Kivu province, are leaving after more than 20 years of service.

“Since 2003, when they were first deployed, more than 100,000 peacekeepers from Pakistan have served in South Kivu, including 31 Pakistani soldiers who died in the line of duty, in the service of the United Nations and the people of the Congo,” he said.