UN chief Guterres condemns fatal attack on peacekeepers in Congo that killed 2 Indians
United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned the fatal attack on peacekeepers serving in the United Nations mission in Congo that killed two Indian police and one Moroccan military personnel and injured an Egyptian police official.
Guterres expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the fallen peacekeepers, who were serving in the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), as well as to the government and the people of India and of Morocco.
He wished a speedy recovery to the injured peacekeeper, a statement issued here Tuesday by his deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said.
In a tweet, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said he was “deeply grieved” at the loss of lives of “two valiant Indian peacekeepers” of the Border Security Force in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The perpetrators of these outrageous attacks must be held accountable and brought to justice. Deepest condolences to the bereaved families,” Jaishankar said on Tuesday.
The statement issued by the UN chief’s spokesperson said Guterres “strongly condemns the fatal” July 26 attack on peacekeepers serving in MONUSCO in Butembo, North Kivu province.
“Two Indian police personnel and one Moroccan military personnel were killed and one Egyptian police personnel was injured during a violent demonstration at the Mission’s base,” the statement said.
India’s Border Security Force (BSF) on Tuesday confirmed the death of two of its personnel in the attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The UN chief underscored that any attack directed against United Nations peacekeepers may constitute a war crime and called upon the Congolese authorities to investigate these incidents and swiftly bring those responsible to justice.
As of November 2021, India was the second highest military contributor to MONUSCO with 1,888 troops and the fifth highest police contributor with 139 personnel. The mission has a total of over 17,700 personnel.
Earlier at the daily press briefing on Tuesday, Haq said violence against the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO was continuing to “escalate”.
He said that at the MONUSCO Butembo base, violent attackers snatched weapons from Congolese police and “fired upon our uniformed personnel. Sadly, one military peacekeeper and two UN police personnel were killed and another was injured.”
Haq said Guterres adds his voice to MONUSCO’s Acting Head Khassim Diagne “to condemn the killing of our colleagues and to express our deepest sympathy to their families and colleagues.”
In response to a question by PTI on the killing of the two Indian peacekeepers, Haq said, “it’s very clear that this is something that should not have happened. It’s an unacceptable action, and we condemn the killing of our colleagues.”
“We do express our deepest sympathies to their families and colleagues and, of course, we will send our sympathies as well to the Government of India for this. I believe we’ve been in touch with the Indian mission on the two fallen peacekeepers,” Haq said.
