Pakistani peacekeeper shot dead in DR Congo

Naik Naeem Raza embraces martyrdom while sepoy Bilal got injured: ISPR

KINSHASA: A Pakistani UN peacekeeper was shot dead by ‘members of an armed group’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, a United Nations spokesman said.

The incident happened when the Pakistani Peacekeeping Convoy was ambushed by armed rebels near Lulimba, 96 km south West of Baraka, South Kivu Province.

During exchange of fire, Naik Naeem Raza embraced martyrdom while sepoy Bilal got injured.

“Pakistani peacekeepers effectively responded to fail the armed rebels,” according to an Inter-Services Public Relations statement.
Pakistan is a permanent contributor to global peace under the UN flag. To date, 156 Pakistanis, including 23 officers, have sacrificed their lives for global peace and stability under UN auspices.



As of today, over 6,000 Pakistani officers and men are performing their duties as part of UN peace keeping assignments.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres "condemns the killing of a peacekeeper from Pakistan... following an ambush" in the troubled eastern province of South Kivu, a UN spokesman said.

He reaffirmed the UN's willingness to continue to address the country's security challenges, despite tensions with the government.
On Friday Congolese President Joseph Kabila claimed the UN's peacekeeping mission in the country MONUSCO had ‘eradicated’ no armed group in nearly 20 years.

He warned the mission not to consider the country "under the care of the United Nations" and said he would "clarify in the coming days our relations" with the world body.

MONUSCO, the largest of the UN missions, has been present in the country since 1999.

Sprawling, mineral-rich but mired in poverty, DR Congo is in the grip of overlapping political and ethnic crises, and much of the country's east is in the hands of rival militia groups competing over resources