6 Ukrainian peacekeepers arrested over DR Congo army uniforms
Six United Nations peacekeepers from Ukraine were
arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo for illegally being in possession
of Congolese military uniforms, reports AFP.
The six were detained at Goma airport in the country's
restive east along with the supplier of the uniforms, a Congolese man,
according to Lieutenant Colonel Olivier Hamuli, a spokesman for the Congolese
army, FARDC.
The UN mission in the country, MONUSCO, confirmed the
incident. Spokesman Charles-Antoine Bambara told AFP that the Ukrainians
belonged to MONUSCO's flight crew and were detained by Congolese security
services on suspicion of "possession of Congolese uniforms".
"Six new uniforms of the Republic Guard (tasked with
protecting President Joseph Kabila) were discovered in their minibus,"
said Emmanuel Lombe, commander of the military region covering North Kivu province.
The Ukrainians "said they intended to use them for
hunting back home" once they finished their mission, he added.
The arrests come at a sensitive time for MONUSCO and the
Congolese army, which are grappling with a worsening security situation in North Kivu province, of which Goma is the capital.
More than 200 people have been massacred around the North
Kivu town of Beni
since October in attacks blamed on Ugandan rebels from the National Army for
the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU), the last major insurgent group active in
the region.
MONUSCO said it would fully cooperate with the Congolese
authorities over the alleged trafficking of military uniforms.
Spokesman Bambara said the six Ukrainians were presumed
innocent but he added that the mission had a "zero tolerance" policy
regarding staff misconduct.
The 20,000-strong MONUSCO force, mostly deployed in the
eastern DR Congo, is tasked with protecting the civilian population of the
troubled mineral-rich region which has been prey to armed rebel groups for two
decades.
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