An Cosantóir February 2018 www.dfmagazine.ie
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Shadow on the Sun
By PAUl o'BRIEn MA
I
n early December 2017, a dark shadow once again drifted
across the African continent as 15 tanzanian Un peace-
keepers were killed and 43 wounded with one still miss-
ing, in what has been called one of the worst attacks on
peacekeeping personnel in recent years.
Heavily armed militants opened up their attack at dusk
on 8th December, firing mortars and RPG rockets at the
peacekeepers' remote FOB at Semuliki, located 45km from
Beni, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) North
Kivu province. The attack was followed up by small-arms
fire, with the peacekeepers returning fire.
In an attempt to relieve the peacekeepers, the Congolese
army travelled from their base several miles away but was
ambushed en route, sustaining five casualties before being
forced to withdraw.
The DRC, a country the size of Western Europe, holds
vast stocks of mineral resources, many of them still not
exploited. The Congolese people suffered for decades under
a brutal regime when their country was a Belgian colony,
achieving their independence in the early 1960s, but inter-
nal conflicts have been ongoing for decades.
The attack on the UN base lasted four hours with the
Tanzanian peacekeepers managing to hold their position
and repulse the attack. Reinforcements eventually arrived
on the scene and the wounded were evacuated from the
area, with the most seriously wounded being sent to more
advanced medical facilities in Goma.
MONUSCO United Nations peacekeepers from
Uruguay patrol a street in Goma, eastern Congo.
