Beni: MONUSCO to strengthen the protection of civilians in the Rwenzori sector

Beni: MONUSCO to strengthen the protection of civilians in the Rwenzori sector. Photo MONUSCO/Martial Papy Mukeba

23 Oct 2020

Beni: MONUSCO to strengthen the protection of civilians in the Rwenzori sector

Tom Tshibangu

MONUSCO is in the process of strengthening its presence in the Rwenzori sector, Beni Territory, to protect the population from attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group.

David Gressly, the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in charge of Operations and Protection in the DRC made that announcement on Thursday, October 22 in the locality of Kilya where he was on a working visit for a few hours.

A visit during which he met with local authorities as well as civil society representatives who expressed their exasperation at the increase in recent weeks of ADF attacks in the region.

"We were already aware of the security situation here, that's why we have already begun construction work here at the Kilya base, we want to build a second base not far from here to strengthen the protection of civilians," said David Gressly.

David Gressly expressed his wish to see the security alert system within the communities strengthened to allow for a faster response to protect the population.

"I've come with our civilian protection officer who will work with our teams on the ground... and see how we can work with communities to increase security alerts that, I think, will allow for a faster response to help protect civilians," said Mr. Gressly.

MONUSCO will continue to examine several aspects in order to secure this area together with the Congolese government, army and police.