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| Africa Subsaharan |
| U.N. Opens Probe after Two Die in DR Congo Protest |
| 2013-08-26 |
| [An Nahar] The United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... said Sunday it has opened a probe after residents accused U.N. peacekeepers of killing two people who tried to storm its base in the restive eastern city of Goma. Martin Kobler, head of the U.N.'s MONUSCO mission, said in a statement he "deplored" the deaths and had "asked for an investigation jointly led by DR Congo police and the MONUSCO to be opened." Witnesses said two peacekeepers from Uruguay rubbed out two people Saturday who were part of a crowd attempting to storm the mission's base near the airport during a protest decrying the U.N.'s inaction in the strife-torn region. "It was the Uruguayans who opened fire on our group. Two people were killed instantly and four others were maimed and rushed to hospital," Augustin Matendo, one of the protesters, told Agence La Belle France Presse. A military source who spoke on condition of anonymity said that "the Uruguayan troops were overcome by the crowd which was trying to enter their camp and shot to disperse people." MONUSCO was not immediately available to comment on the claim. But Uruguayan President Jose Mujica told local radio that the peacekeepers from his country were not to blame, and "have acted appropriately, complying with all protocols in place in these cases." Mujica pointed the finger of blame at DR Congo police, saying they were responsible for the deadly fire. |
| Posted by:Fred |