Ban condemns killing of UN peacekeeper in conflict-ridden Congo

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the killing of a Tanzanian peacekeeper and the wounding of 10 others in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a UN statement said late Thursday. The attack took place when the Blue-Bereted personnel came under fire from the M23 group and while carrying out the mandate of the Force Intervention Brigade. It occurred as the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) supported action by the Forces arm{es de la R{publique d{mocratique du Congo (FARDC) to protect civilian-populated areas of Goma. "The Secretary General deplores in the strongest terms the killing and wounding of UN peacekeepers. He offers his sincere condolences and sympathy to their families and to the Governments of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of South Africa," the statement added. The United Nations remains committed to taking all necessary actions in line with Security Council resolution 2098 (2013) to protect civilians in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, it concluded. A 3,000-strong UN intervention brigade, with a tough new mandate to protect civilians and neutralize armed groups in the mineral-rich central African nation, sprang into action last week after accusing M23 rebels of shelling Goma city.