On Tuesday, February 12, the police of the Democratic Republic of the Congo fired tear gas in the faces of the protesters who burned tires and flags of the United States and Belgium near the headquarters of various embassies of Western countries and the United Nations office in the capital Kinshasa.
Rwanda has often denied these allegations but the authorities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have not done so, Although security had been tightened after United Nations personnel and their vehicles were attacked on Friday, groups of protesters gathered at the US and French embassies and diplomatic missions. The United Nations in Congo is known as MONUSCO.
Some threw stones, tried to break security cameras at some of the US Embassy offices, while others shouted “get out of our country, we don’t want your hypocrisy”. Pepin Mbindu who joined the protest said: “Westerners are behind looting our country, Rwanda is not doing it alone, so they must leave our country.”
Onlookers applauded as one of the protesters removed the European Union flag from the gates of a large hotel in central Kinshasa, according to footage shared by X. Reuters said it was unable to verify the video.
Fabrice Malumba, a motorist who participated in the protest in front of the US Embassy, Said “The international community remains silent while the Congolese are being killed; they are supporting Rwanda.” On Sunday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Christophe Lutundula met with the ambassadors and representatives of their countries in different ways in the Congo, promising to take measures to protect them.
“As you can see, we are managing the security of the embassies of the partners of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Convention,” General Blaise Mbula Kilimba Limba, Kinshasa Police Chief, told the Reuters news agency.
