GOMA, Congo (AP) — Two senior military officers in northeastern Congo were arrested Monday for taking part in a crackdown on protests last week that left 43 people dead and another 56 seriously injured, authorities said.
Interior Minister Peter Kazadi said police had arrested commanders Mike Mikombe and Donat Bawili, who respectively led the Republican Guard unit and the Congolese Armed Forces regiment in Goma, the eastern city where the violence occurred.
Defense and security forces in the central African country used lethal force to suppress planned anti-UN protests in the city last Wednesday. A government delegation arrived in Goma on Monday to hold hearings and other procedures “to determine responsibility,” the interior minister said.
“We have no interest in hiding anything. “The whole truth will come out,” Kazadi said. Authorities called on the families of those killed in Goma to provide information for the investigation.
On August 23, the mayor of Goma banned a protest organized by a sect called Natural Jewish and Messianic Faith in the Nations, colloquially known as Wazalendo. Their supporters planned a demonstration against the regional organization of the East African Community and the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo.
The UN mission, known by its French acronym MONUSCO, is facing increasing pressure to withdraw from Congo after more than two decades in the conflict-torn country.
The advocacy group Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that before the protests could take place, armed forces fired on Wazalendo protesters in the streets, triggering an “apparent massacre” in the city. According to national authorities, 43 civilians died and 56 were seriously injured.
The UN human rights office said more than 220 people were arrested in connection with the planned protests and the subsequent crackdown.
“After expressing his anger and dismay at the tragic events in Goma, (President Felix Tshisekedi) called on the judiciary to shed light on the tragedy and find out who is responsible,” presidential spokesperson Tina said Salama, on the social media platform X as Twitter.
To express their outrage at the killings, young protesters in Goma barricaded streets on Monday morning. The city remained paralyzed into the afternoon until police managed to disperse protesters without major incident and reopen the streets.