UN repels attack on base in eastern DR Congo

KINSHASA: UN forces have managed to thwart an attempted attack on one of their bases in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN's MONUSCO peace-keeping mission said on Sunday.

UN blue helmets repelled an attempted attack led by five or six men on their facility in Biakato, Ituri province, overnight, the UN's Stabilization Mission in DR Congo said, adding that "no one was injured." Three Ebola workers were killed on November 28 when an armed group attacked a complex, also in Biakato.

Both the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders have recalled their non-Congolese workers from the region following another attack this week. Eastern DRC has been troubled for years by militia that control swathes of territory and exploit its mineral wealth.

The Congolese army launched operations against a notorious militia, the Allied Democratic Forces, at the end of October. In response, the ADF has carried out massacres in an apparent bid to discourage civilians from helping the military.

Demonstrations have erupted in the eastern city of Beni, where local people accuse MONUSCO of failing to protect them against the ADF. MONUSCO is one of the biggest UN peacekeeping operations in the world and comprises more than 16,500 military personnel and observers, 1,300 police and at least 4,000 civilians.

But it has been struggling to make progress in a vast country beset by armed groups as well as an Ebola epidemic, poverty and poor governance. At least eight people have been killed in anti-MONUSCO demonstrations since November 23, according to an AFP toll.