Published on : 03/08/2022 – 15:00Modified : 03/08/2022 – 23:32
After requesting a reassessment of the timetable for the gradual withdrawal of the UN mission, the Congolese government officially requested the departure of MONUSCO spokesperson Mathias Gillmann, whom it accuses, in an interview with RFI, of having aggravated the situation. Official correspondence has been sent to Monusco to indicate the position of the Congolese authorities.
With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi
According to the Congolese government, the current tensions between the population and Monusco are due in particular to the declarations deemed “ indelicate and inappropriate by Mathias Gillmann. In an interview with RFI on July 13 in Kinshasa, the Monusco spokesperson said that the deployment of a large part of the resources of the UN mission and the Congolese army in the fight against the M23 had negative consequences. on the other regions, that Monusco does not have the military means to deal with the M23. Echoing the words of Bintou Keita, head of Monusco at the UN Security Council, he also explained that the M23 behaved like a conventional army with a sophisticated military arsenal.
The day after the interview with the spokesperson for Monusco on RFI, the Congolese presidency had expressed its disapproval. A letter requesting his departure had also been sent to the UN mission.
Within Monusco, we confided that we did not understand this outcry against Mathias Gillmann. Especially since he had only repeated remarks made by the head of Monusco, Bintou Keita, at the end of June before the United Nations Security Council.
In the letter sent to Bintou Keita, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Christophe Lutundula considers that “ the presence of Mathias Gillmann is not likely to promote a climate of trust and serenity between the institutions of the DRC and Monusco, to bring the transition plan to a successful conclusion for the purposes of his definitive withdrawal from the DRC “. He calls for the expulsion of the spokesperson for the UN mission in the country, ” departure as soon as possible “, writes the Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs to the head of the United Nations Mission.
Channel discontent
On the side of Monusco, we say we are surprised at the turn taken by these events which conceal ” the real problems “. In recent weeks, Monusco has insisted on the urgency of achieving de-escalation in this crisis involving the M23 so that it and the FARDC focus on other crises. Several Western ambassadors stationed in Kinshasa also tried to intervene.
According to Jean-Jacques Wondo, analyst of security and political issues in Central Africa, the Kinshasa authorities are seeking, by targeting Monusco, to channel the discontent of the population and to recreate a feeling of national cohesion.
Seeking the departure of Monusco in a context of crisis where the government is not fulfilling many of its objectives allows the government to create a kind of national cohesion around its policy and here the expulsion of Mr. Gillmann could cause a wave of popular support to say that we are doing our job and that the Congo remains a sovereign country and that there is no question of other people giving us orders on the way forward
Jean-Jacques Wondo: “There is a subtle strategy on the part of the government which wants to hide behind the population”
Meanwhile, on the military ground, the M23 resumed its offensive and arrived yesterday about thirty kilometers from Goma, around the Rumbangabo military camp.