UN says it exercised restraint in DR Congo protests

According to the UN, there is currently no proof that its peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo fired on civilians during three days of anti-UN demonstrations.

As of right now, 19 fatalities in the violent battles that attacked UN facilities in several locations have been confirmed. There were three UN employees among the victims.

On Monday, protests broke out in eastern DR Congo with residents blaming the UN for failing to stop armed group violence.

According to Kassim Diagne, the UN's deputy special representative in the nation, investigators have already been dispatched to assist the authorities in analyzing the bullets that claimed the lives of people in the towns of Goma and Butembo.

However, according to Mr Diagne's preliminary findings, the UN soldiers showed restraint as protestors stormed their barracks and set cars, offices, and food stores on fire.

Demonstrators claim that the deaths were carried out by Congolese security personnel.

This occurs as the number of civilian fatalities rises in the wake of Wednesday's electrocution of four demonstrators in the city of Uvira as a result of troops' gunfire striking an electric cable that fell on them.

The Congolese government has been requested to conduct a thorough investigation and bring those responsible to justice after the UN Security Council denounced the violence.

The second-largest UN peacekeeping force in the world, the mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has started to reduce and remove its personnel from certain areas of the country in recent years.