DR Congo: Dozens detained in Beni during anti-UN protests

Some 60 people arrested in eastern city as protesters accuse the UN peacekeepers of failing to prevent rebel attacks.

Police in the eastern Congolese city of Beni have detained dozens of people and fired live rounds to disperse protesters demanding the departure of the United Nations peacekeeping mission for its failure to stop the bloodshed in the region, according to local authorities and witnesses. Hundreds of young people have been protesting for days in several cities in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), angry that the UN mission, known as MONUSCO, has not prevented a wave of civilian killings by armed groups. “We only demand two things: for MONUSCO to leave and for the Congolese government to take its responsibility so that we can have peace,” said Clovis Mutsova, a member of youth activist group LUCHA.