Soldiers undergo trial a for fatal anti-UN rally in Congo

Six soldiers are currently facing trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the murder of over 40 people who were protesting against the United Nations last week.

Two high-ranking officers are accused of telling soldiers to shoot at the protest, which was not allowed.

The people in the eastern city of Goma held a protest to ask the UN and regional peacekeepers to leave.

Protesters say they didn’t do a good job keeping people safe from rebel attacks in the east for many years.

The case is taking place at a military court in Goma, the main city in a region called North Kivu, which has lots of valuable minerals and many rebel groups. Last year, the M23 fighters took control of big parts of this area.

The soldiers were accused of doing very bad things to innocent people and not doing what their leaders told them to do.

One of the six people on trial, Col Mike Mikombe, leads the special forces called the Republican Guard in Goma. He was the only person who said he didn’t do what he was accused of when the meeting started on Tuesday.

It is not clear if the defendants actually shot any guns during the protest last Wednesday.

A religious group planned a protest, but the government said they couldn’t do it. The UN peacekeeping mission in eastern DR Congo (Monusco) has experienced many demonstrations since last year.

Monusco currently has about 18,000 people in the country, and over 12,000 of them are soldiers. It has been decided that the force will leave after the elections in December.

The government gave an update on the recent anti-UN protest in Goma. According to them, 43 people have died, including a police officer who was allegedly killed by the protesters. Fifty-three people got hurt.

However, the United Nations Human Rights Office mentioned that more people could have died, and a military prosecutor named Colonel Michel Kachil informed the court that 56 individuals were killed.

More than 150 people were taken into custody by the security forces during the crackdown.

People are very angry in DR Congo because of what happened, and Human Rights Watch says the way the soldiers reacted was very cruel and against the law.

The military tribunal happens after the country’s ministers in charge of internal affairs and defense went to Goma to examine the incident.

The government said they are bringing the military leader of North Kivu, General Constant Ndima, back to the capital city, Kinshasa, to talk about things. This information was reported by the AFP news agency.

On Wednesday, it was revealed that Jacques Ndulu Ichaligonza had taken over from Gen Ndima as the temporary military governor.

In May 2021, the regions of North Kivu and Ituri in the east were placed under martial law to try to stop the rebel groups and armed militias.

A year and a half later, a group of soldiers was sent to eastern DR Congo to help the military’s efforts.

Even though there were protests against peacekeeping, the leaders of East African countries agreed to continue sending their troops on Tuesday.