Brussels, 02/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - During the evening of Friday 30 August, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton expressed regret that a Tanzanian UN peacekeeper had been killed in the region of Goma (North Kivu), to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and that the fighting between the government army and the M23 rebels had left people wounded in the DRC and Rwanda. “I deplore the death of a Tanzanian UN peacekeeper and the injuries resulting from fighting with M23 on Congolese territory, and at the same time the civilian victims of shells which landed on the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. I call for an independent investigation by the joint verification mechanism, to determine the origin of shells”, Ashton stated.
A high-level mission, composed of the UNSG special envoy, the African Union special representative, the US special envoy and the EU senior coordinator for the Great Lakes region, will travel to the region in the coming days. Offering her condolences to the family of the UN peacekeeper who died and to the Tanzanian authorities, Ashton “firmly condemns repeated M23 attacks against both MONUSCO and the civilian population, as well as any attempt to internationalise the conflict”. (AN/transl.fl)