A United Nations peacekeeper from Pakistan was killed in an ambush Saturday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was deployed with the U.N. Stabilization Mission in the DRC, also know by its French acronym, MONUSCO.
Members of an armed group ambushed the peacekeepers near Lulimba, 96 kilometers southwest of Baraka in South Kivu province. At least one other peacekeeper was wounded in the assault.
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world body chief “condemns the killing.”
According to the secretary-general’s spokesman, Guterres has called on all armed groups in the DRC “to lay down their arms and seek to resolve their grievances peacefully.”
The French News Agency (AFP) reported that DRC President Joseph Kabila claimed MONUSCO has not “eradicated” any armed group in nearly 20 years.
AFP said Kabila has warned MONUSCO not to consider the DRC “under the care of the United Nations” and added that he would “clarify in the coming days our relations” with the U.N.