Seven peacekeepers reported dead in DR Congo over clash with militias

About seven United Nations (UN) peacekeepers are reported to have died in a clash with militias in an area that is at the center of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s worst Ebola epidemic.

Following some lawlessness that aroused in the country, some peacekeepers who were sent to maintain order in a particular area in the country rattled with some soldiers hence causing about seven people’s death.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Thursday, November 15, 2018 said, “Our peacekeeping colleagues tell us that six peacekeepers from Malawi and one from Tanzania who are part of the U.N. peacekeeping operation in the DRC ... were killed yesterday, in Beni territory, in North Kivu,”.

For more than two decades, since the fall of military ruler Mobutu Sese Seko, Eastern Congo has been beset by violence and armed rebellions but the past year has seen a spate in violence around North Kivu.

Beni and the surrounding villages are also suffering an Ebola endemic affecting over 300 people leaving about two-thirds of them dead.

This is the third worst outbreak ever, after a 2013-2016 outbreak in West Africa, when 28,000 people were infected, and in Uganda in 2000, when there were 425 cases.

Repeated armed attacks by at least two rebel groups are impeding international efforts to contain the virus, by thwarting medical workers from getting to Ebola victims.

One UN spokesman who spoke on behalf of General Antonio Guterres appealed that, “all armed groups must stop their destabilizing activities, which continue to add to the suffering of the population and complicate the response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak.”