At least 48 people were killed in a crackdown by DR Congo armed forces on a protest that targeted the United Nations peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO) in the country’s eastern city of Goma, AFP reports.
Soldiers on Wednesday, August 30, opened fire on the demonstrators belonging to a religious sect, who marched on Goma-based UN mission and other foreign organisations.
Initially the Governor of North Kivu province admitted seven people, including a policeman, had been killed.
AFP said local sources and official documentation recorded 48 casualties.
The UN Secretary General said earlier in August that MONUSCO had embarked on a withdrawal plan, which will put an end to one of the longest and most expensive peacekeeping missions.
The 25-year-old mission has been criticised for failing to fight the hundreds of eastern DR Congo-based local and foreign armed groups responsible for killings and human rights abuses.
