UN Security Council renews DRC peacekeeping mandate

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Friday to renew the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo for one year even as the mission gradually withdraws at Kinshasa’s request.

MONUSCO is made up of some 16,000 military and police personnel, and is one of the UN’s priciest peacekeeping operations, with an annual budget of more than $1 billion.

It will withdraw from the country even as the east has been ravaged by M23 rebels that UN experts and several nations say are supported by Rwanda.

The resolution adopted Friday says that the Council supports “a more flexible and gradual approach to MONUSCO’s withdrawal informed by local security conditions.”

MONUSCO already completed its withdrawal from South Kivu after closing its office at the end of June, but forces are still deployed in Ituri and North Kivu.

No date has been fixed for the full withdrawal to be completed.

The resolution also expressed concern over “continued violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and sustained tension between Rwanda and the DRC.”

It said that “the DRC continues to suffer from recurring and evolving cycles of conflict and persistent violence by foreign and domestic armed groups” — but stopped short of accusing Rwanda of backing M23 or having its own forces in DRC.

“We remain dismayed that some members of the council resisted language actually describing Rwanda’s role in eastern DRC over the last year. The UN group of experts has meticulously documented Rwanda’s deployment of three to 4,000 troops on DRC soil and its influence over M23 operations,” said Washington’s ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

“In the face of such extensive evidence, why are members resorting to using euphemisms rather than simply naming Rwanda directly.”

Rwandan authorities have previously publicly denied that their troops were operating alongside M23 rebels in North Kivu.

The resolution “decides to extend until December 20, 2025 the mandate of MONUSCO in the DRC.”

It also set the upper limit for the force’s strength at 11,500 military personnel, 600 military observers and staff officers, 443 police personnel, and 1,270 personnel of formed police units.