DR Congo revealed on Monday the apprehension of military officers following a fatal crackdown during an anti-UN demonstration in the eastern part of the country, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 50 individuals.
Last Wednesday, Congolese troops intervened to prevent a religious sect from organizing a protest against United Nations peacekeepers in the city of Goma.
An internal military document examined by media and authenticated by security authorities reported a casualty count of 48 civilians who lost their lives, along with one police officer killed by the demonstrators.
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo confirmed the day after the incident that 43 individuals had lost their lives, with 56 others sustaining injuries.
In the early hours of Monday, the Congolese Interior Minister, Peter Kazadi, disclosed the arrest of a Republican Guard brigade commander and a regiment commander.
“They have been detained and a trial will be organised in the coming hours to establish who was responsible,” he told reporters in Goma.
Kazadi journeyed to the eastern city in the aftermath of the crackdown to probe the incident, accompanied by the Congolese Defense Minister, Jean-Pierre Bemba.
“We interviewed all the military security officials in the city,” Kazadi said. “Some military officials were immediately referred to the military prosecutor’s office.”
“We are asking the population to remain calm, to trust the government and our justice system, which will soon reach a verdict,” the interior minister added.
Militias have sown chaos in eastern DRC for a span of three decades, a grim inheritance stemming from the regional conflicts that erupted in the 10s and 2000s.
The UN peacekeeping mission in the area ranks among the most substantial and expensive globally, boasting an annual budget of approximately $1 billion (equivalent to 915 million euros).
However, the United Nations faces harsh criticism within the Central African nation, with a significant portion of the population perceiving the peacekeepers as ineffective in preventing conflicts.
Last year, dozens of people were killed in anti-UN protests across eastern DRC.