UN peacekeepers to leave Congo by end of 2024 after 25 years

By Michael J Kavanagh

The United Nations will withdraw its peacekeeping force from the Democratic Republic of Congo by the end of 2024 despite ongoing fighting that’s displaced a record number of people. 

The UN mission, known as Monusco, will close its police and military deployments in South Kivu province no later than April, it said Saturday in a joint statement with Congo’s government. That will be followed by an assessment requested by the UN security council and the subsequent shutdown of bases in North Kivu and then Ituri provinces.

“After 25 years of presence, Monusco will definitively leave the DRC by the end of 2024,” the mission and the government said in the statement. “Monusco reiterates its determination to implement its mandate to protect civilians alongside the Congolese defense and security forces.”

UN peacekeepers first came to Congo in 1999 in the middle of a war that engulfed troops from more than half-a-dozen other African countries. Millions died as rebels and soldiers fought for control of the resource-rich nation, which is now the continent’s second largest by landmass. 

For many years the peacekeeping mission was the UN’s biggest, costing more than a billion dollars annually.

Despite the presence of the peacekeepers, conflict has continued to rage in Congo’s east, which borders Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Dozens of rebel groups continue to fight over land, economic resources and ethnic disputes, and nearly 7 million people are displaced.

Congo’s own army has struggled to halt the violence, but the government of Felix Tshisekedi has been pushing for Monusco to leave the country.

Last month, Congo held its fourth election since the official end of the war in 2003. The vote was largely peaceful, according to electoral observers, though opposition candidates have contested Tshisekedi’s victory.