Sawt Falasteen - UN Security Council votes to extend DR Congo mission by one year

The MONUSCO mission of 11,500 military personnel is one of the blue helmet missions endorsed by the United States which has sought to cut back on the body's spending on deployments under President Donald Trump.

The resolution extends "until December 20, 2026 the mandate of MONUSCO in the DRC" and comes in the wake of the fall of the major Congolese cities of Goma in January and Bukavu in February to the anti-government M23.

Washington says the M23 is backed by Rwanda. On December 10 the group occupied Uvira, a DRC city of several hundred thousand people that allowed it to control the land border with Burundi and cut the DRC off from military support from its neighbor.

The US representative at Friday's meeting, Jennifer Locetta, said "negotiations to renew the MONUSCO mandate were yet again disrupted by Rwandan and M23 efforts to sabotage a viable peace process."

Earlier this month, the Congolese and Rwandan leaders signed a peace deal in Washington -- but the fall of Uvira threatened to upend that landmark agreement.

On Wednesday, the M23 said it had begun pulling out of the city and called on "mediators and other partners to ensure Uvira is protected from violence, reprisals and remilitarization."

Local and security sources reported that troops had moved towards the north of the city.

Early Thursday, M23 police and plain-clothed agents were still seen in the streets and at strategic points, according to local sources.

On Tuesday, two Burundian officials estimated that at least 85,000 people had fled the DRC in recent weeks to seek refuge in Burundi.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has said it expects a total of 90,000 new arrivals and published a photo showing dozens of people camping under trees, without any infrastructure to accommodate them.

Q.Najjar--SF-PST