UN peacekeeping head meets leaders of rebel coalition in eastern DRC

The head of the UN's MONUSCO peacekeeping mission to Congo met with the DRC's former President Joseph Kabila on Tuesday and other leaders of his new coalition. The front for the re-foundation of the nation includes former members of the M23 armed group. They discussed the extension of the MONUSCO mandate due to expire next month. 28 years later, when you make the point... Twenty-eight years later, when you take stock of MONUSCO's activities, you find that it has been a total failure. A new mandate will not change anything at all. We think that one more mandate would change absolutely nothing for the situation in the country today. We would have We would have liked the mandate to not be renewed, and for MONUSCO to continue their retreat as planned. It's like he had promised. Kabila launched the political-military FRN last month. DRC President Félix Tshisekedi has accused him of being a stooge of neighbouring Rwanda that supported the M23. MONUSCO was deployed to help protect civilians and re-establish peace, as dozens of armed groups vie for control of mineral-rich eastern Congo.