DEADLY ATTACKS IN DR CONGO: Protests against UN peacekeepers spreads

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has continued to witness protests by angry nationals who are demonstrating against the inability of United Nations peacekeepers to keep them safe from deadly attacks.

Demonstrators in the volatile city of Goma on Wednesday reportedly blocked the main road leading to Beni further south where the first protests against the UN mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) broke out on Sunday.

Reports from Goma say demonstrators in the capital of North Kivu province used sticks and stones to block traffic on the city’s main thoroughfare.

“Police have been forced to use tear gas and to fire live bullets in the air,” Catherine Wambua-Soi of Al Jazeera said.

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“Everybody here seems to be very angry, they are all saying that they do not want MONUSCO here, they want them gone,” she added.

The development comes a week after an overnight attack by suspected rebel fighters dubbed “Allied Democratic Forces” left at least 15 people dead in the eastern part of the DRC.

According to reports, the attacks which happened in and around the village of Mbau were carried out with bladed weapons.

Among the eight victims were six members of a single-family, local officials said.

Seven members of a Pygmy ethnic group living in the nearby forest were also killed, officials said. Their bodies were found tied up and their throats had been slit.

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