Fifteen UN peacekeepers killed, more than 50 hurt in eastern Congo attack

KINSHASA, Congo — In the deadliest single attack on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in nearly 25 years, rebels in eastern Congo killed 15 peacekeepers and wounded more than 50 others in an assault on their base that was launched at nightfall and went on for hours.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “outrage and utter heartbreak” and called the attack a war crime, urging Congolese authorities to swiftly investigate. The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs said it was “horrified.”

UN peacekeeping spokesman Nick Birnback said it was the deadliest attack on a UN peacekeeping mission since June 1993, when 22 Pakistani soldiers were killed in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

The peacekeepers killed Thursday were from Tanzania. Tanzanian President John Magufuli expressed his shock and said prayers for the wounded, three of whom are in critical condition. At least five Congolese soldiers also were killed in the attack Thursday evening that has been blamed on one of the region’s deadliest rebel groups.

Three peacekeepers were missing, the UN said. More than 20 were taken for medical treatment in the regional capital, Goma.

Birnback, the UN peacekeeping spokesman, called the assault “a determined and well-co-ordinated attack by a well-armed group.”

It was not clear when military reinforcements arrived after the attack, the UN said. Conditions in the region are “very, very challenging,” said UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix, who said the attack followed a recent increase in activities by various armed groups. He called the assault a response to the UN mission’s own “increasingly robust posture.”

“We are disturbing them,” he said. “They do not like it.”

The peacekeeping base is about 45 kilometres from the town of Beni, which has been repeatedly attacked by the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, rebel group. The ADF is suspected of being behind Thursday’s assault.

The base is home to the UN mission’s rapid intervention force, which has a rare mandate to go on the offensive against armed groups in the vast, mineral-rich region.

The UN mission in Congo is the largest and most expensive in the world. It has also been a highprofile target in the U.S. of the Trump administration’s costcutting efforts. The mission has a budget of $1.14 billion US and over 16,500 soldiers. Nearly 300 peacekeepers have been killed since the mission arrived in 1999, according to UN data.

Members of the UN Security Council, which authorized the peacekeeping mission, stood in silent tribute to the victims at the start of a meeting Friday afternoon on a five-nation force in Africa’s Sahel region.

Later, the council condemned the attack “in the strongest terms,” underlined that deliberate attacks targeting peacekeepers might constitute war crimes, and called on Congo’s government to ensure that the perpetrators “are swiftly brought to justice.”

UN flags will fly at half-staff Monday all over the world in memory of the victims.