Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Congolese security forces shot and killed dozens of protesters in the city of Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
“They were not found in the act of attacking MONOSCO, so there was no need to kill them,” he added.
He said they are asking the army and the government to account for the dead.
MONUSCO was in 2010 brought in to keep peace in restive eastern DR Congo, which is infested with rebels and militiamen, but have come under sharp criticism because many local people believe that the peacekeepers have failed to prevent conflict.
Last year, more than 10 people were killed in anti-UN protests across eastern Congo, including four peacekeepers.
Nearly 160 people were arrested during the unrest on Wednesday, according to the communications ministry.
“We were just about to start marching when suddenly we saw armed Congolese soldiers coming. They immediately opened fire on the people demonstrating and on the Wazalendo who were there. That was when I got hit by a bullet too,” explained Claude Omar, an injured demonstrator.
Goma’s Mayor Faustin Napenda Kapend had banned the protest on August 23 soon after it was announced.
Congolese security and defence forces had amassed at major intersections in anticipation when violence broke out around 4 a.m. Wednesday.
The supporters were demonstrating against the regional East African Community organization and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, called MONUSCO, which is in the process of being drawn down by the end of the year.
“There should be a public trial of those responsible because you can’t just shoot civilians who aren’t even demonstrating,” denounced Jean Luc Bahati, lawyer and human rights worker for rights group SUWE.
“You can’t shoot at civilians to the point of killing so many people, when they weren’t even demonstrating, it’s truly a blatant disproportioned use of lethal power,” added the lawyer.
He said they planned to demonstrate against the presence of troops from the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and the East African Community in DR Congo.
“They assembled in their church in Goma not far from a MONUSCO base around 4 a.m. on Wednesday. They were making plans to attack MONUSCO offices when soldiers entered the church and shot at them, killing 13 instantly.”
Pecos said the rest died either on the way to or at hospitals.
He said it was not necessary to open fire on defenseless people.
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