Hundreds of demonstrators attacked several foreign embassies and the UN building in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Kinshasa on Tuesday as an attack by insurgents supported by neighboring Rwanda in the east of the country threatened a spiral into the regional crisis.
Anger to foreign allies in Congo this week grew in a country about what is considered their inability to stop Attack on the key eastern city of Goma On Monday, March 23, or M23, is supported and directed by Rwanda.
On Tuesday, the protesters burned tires and threw stones in front of the main embassy according to local reports and violated the place of new Embassy building that is under constructionAccording to an American official in Kinshasa, who spoke of the state of anonymity to maintain employees’ safety. The place was later secured and no one was injured, the official said.
Demonstrators attacked the French embassy in the city and caused fire, According to Jean-Noël BarrotFrance Foreign Minister, who condemned violence as “unacceptable”, although he said that the fire was under control.
Videos distributed by Reuters news agency showed that the protesters broke into the French embassy and left the building with furniture. “Macron kills in Congo,” he read the message remaining on the wall of the embassy, referring to France, President Emmanuel Macron. “You have betrayed us for a long time.”
According to the video verified by The New York Times, the protesters also lifted and set fire to the Ugandan embassy. And they attacked the Belgian embassy and the Office of the UN Humanitarian Agency in Congo, according to the UN official, who described this situation as “overall chaos”.
A small fire was also laid before the Rwandan Embassy.
The M23 rebels are fighting against the Congolese armed forces and allied armed groups for territorial control in the eastern regions of Congo. Their latest offensive has over 500,000 people displaced Since the beginning of the year, according to the UN refugee agency.
When angry protests broke out in Kinshase, there were shots over Goma 1,000 miles to the east, an area that was once a refuge for people who fled the M23 from other armed groups. Many of them now flee again in the middle of the M23 rebels to completely capture the city.
Rwanda denies the support of M23. Instead, Congo accused him of failing to maintain peace in his Eastern regions and threatening Rwand’s own security by accumulating units near their borders.
In Monday’s call with President Congo Félix TshiseKedi, Foreign Minister Marco Rubio condemned the M23 attack on GOMA and, according to a spokesman for the state ministry Tammy Bruce, confirmed the respect of the United States to sovereignty of Congo.
The UN Security Council was scheduled to organize an emergency conflict meeting on Tuesday. After a previous emergency meeting on Sunday, the members of the Council did not mention Rwanda on behalf of their statements who condemned the insurgents.
