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Kenyan soldiers ready to serve in the UN peacekeeping force in DR Congo have arrived in Beni but have found mixed reception in the eastern town of Flashpoint.
Local resident Adriel Tsongo, 30, said the troops from the East African country, on their first mission to conflict-torn North Kivu province, “inspire a bit of confidence.”
But, he said, “We don’t trust the UN, and we wonder if these Kenyans will make a difference.”
He attacks the FIB brigade of the “very passive” UN force, authorized in 2013 to adopt a more offensive posture, but accused by the inhabitants of not doing much to protect them from armed groups.
“Why, after 20 years of … failures, are they adding more troops saying they will fight harder than the rest?” asked student Benjamin Sivanzire.
He said the UN soldiers were “lazy” and predicted that the Kenyans would not be able to do better than the other units.
Such skepticism is deeply rooted in Beni, a town of about 200,000 inhabitants which suffered badly at the hands of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
Notorious group
Linked by the United States to the Islamic State group, the ADF is considered the deadliest of the more than 120 armed groups that roam eastern DRC.
The country’s Catholic Church says the ADF has killed around 6,000 civilians since 2013, while a respected US-based observer, the Kivu Security Tracker (KST), attributes more than 1,200 deaths in the country alone. Beni region since 2017.
The toll has risen sharply since 2019, when militias appear to have radicalized, committing massacres in remote villages and taking survivors hostage.
Anger: In November 2019, a crowd stormed a UN compound on the outskirts of Beni due to perceived inaction in the face of ADF attacks. By Ushindi Mwendapeke Eliezaire (AFP / File) Anger protests, some of which turned violent, erupted in Beni over perceived inaction by the UN peacekeeping mission, now more than two decades old, and the armed forces of the DRC .
As of May, the UN force, MONUSCO, numbered 12,181 troops and 1,612 police, with a civilian contingent of 2,970 employees. The annual budget is approximately $ 1 billion.
The FIB, deployed in Beni in particular, is made up of battalions from Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania, now joined by Kenyan troops.
The force is being reinforced with four “organic rapid intervention units” in order “to increase the presence on the ground for the protection of the populations”, told AFP the military spokesman, the major. Ari Foukory.
The Tanzanians arrived a few months ago, the Kenyans moved into their quarters on Monday and Nepalese and South African contingents are expected shortly, he added, without specifying the number of men affected.
Need for quick results
Kambale Musavuli, a taxi driver, said the situation in Beni was getting worse.
MONUSCO’s presence “did not stop the ADF from slaughtering people,” he said, adding that he hoped MONUSCO would “pull out”.
“If Kenyan troops are to gain the trust of the local population, they must start right away with operations that yield tangible results,” Tsongo said.
DR Congo. By (AFP) Otherwise, he warned, “we will protest again against this force, which is not helping us at all, and demand its departure.”
“What matters is the result on the ground,” admitted Calvin Maliro, a young leader from Bungulu district in Beni.
“We have heard that Kenyans are used to fighting jihadists,” said another youth representative, Jimmy Kighoma, for whom new peacekeepers were “welcome” as long as they “don’t come as tourists” .
“We understand the public’s exasperation at the killings, barbarism and human rights violations,” said the spokesperson for the FIB.
MONUSCO, he stressed, was not there to replace the Congolese army. Its main mission is “to ensure the protection of civilians,” he said.
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