Mbandaka, 17 November 2010 - Some 3,000 people demonstrated in the Northern town of Gbadolite on Wednesday November 17 calling on the UN Mission "not to abandon the population to its sad fate". The demonstration followed rumours that the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO) was contemplating an imminent closure of its Gbadolite sub-office.

The demonstrators defied the heavy morning downpour and marched peacefully through the streets of Gbadolite with their placards and banners to the MONUSCO sub-office.

While most of them were on foot, some others rode bicycles. They communicated their concerns in a memo they handed over to local authorities and MONUSCO officials at the end of the march. Their message expressed worries that with the Mission's departure from the area, the population would be exposed to all kinds of threats and danger.

According to some civil society organisations, the concerns raised by the demonstrators - and widely shared by the wider population of the region - included among others: the almost total absence of United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organisations in Gbadolite; the future elections and the isolation of Gbadolite and North Ubangi areas. People in the area, they said, rely MONUSCO flights for air travel.

MONUSCO's information officer in the Equateur region, Jean-Tobie Okala, dismissed the claim as "false information based on rumours that have been circulating in Mbandaka and Gbadolite recently." He told them that MONUSCO Gbadolite sub office was not closing. Rather, he explained, only the military observers were expected to be redeployed to Mbandaka. This means, the Ghanaian Blue Helmets and civilian personnel will still be there.