DRC: Army claims to have found the body of a Blue Helmet

The Congolese army said Wednesday it found the body of a Blue Helmet of the United Nations Mission in Congo (Monusco) near Beni, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

« The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo have shared this information with us and we will follow this file according to our procedures, » said a spokesman for the UN mission (Monusco).

The Congolese army claims to have found the body an unspecified date in the Beni region, where it announced on October 30 operations against armed groups, especially the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

The Blue Helmets announced since Monday that they had joined its operations, with their elements of the intervention brigade in the region (South Africa, Tanzania, Malawi).

« In an ADF camp conquered by the army, we found the remains of a fallen peacekeeper, » said General Léon-Richard Kasonga, spokesman of the Congolese army, during ‘a press conference. « We picked up his military card (…) I could not say anything about his nationality. The United Nations itself will give it. « 

On the UN side, it states that « the country of origin and the family must be officially informed and the identification will take time ».

No comment FARDC side

« So we will not confirm anything for a long time. » Of Ugandan origin, the ADF are accused of the massacre of more than 100 civilians in the region of Beni, in retaliation for Congolese military operations.

These massacres provoked riots against the authorities and the Blue Helmets, accused of doing nothing.

Civil society sources have accused the ADF of killing 11 people, nine men and two women, in the night of Monday to Tuesday in the village of Orototo in Beni territory.

« We buried the 11 corpses today in the bush around 11:00, » said David Muwaz, president of the civil society of the Batalinga chiefdom.

The Congolese army did not want to confirm. In total the ADF are accused of the massacre of more than 1,000 civilians in the region of Beni since 2014.

Fifteen Tanzanian peacekeepers were killed by the ADF in December 2017 in the attack on their base in Beni territory. In December 2018, seven more UN peacekeepers were killed in an ambush by ADFs.