UN secretary general António Guterres has strongly condemned the attack against a helicopter of the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).

The helicopter came under fire on Sunday while travelling from Beni to Goma, North Kivu province, resulting in one South African peacekeeper killed and another severely injured.

According to news reports, the severely injured peacekeeper was able to continue flying, and along with the rest of the crew, managed to land at the airport of the provincial capital, Goma.

Mr Guterres, in a statement by his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric expressed his condolences to the family of the deceased peacekeeper, and South Africa.

He wished the wounded a speedy recovery and warned that such attacks against peacekeepers might constitute a war crime under international law. The UN chief urged Congolese authorities to investigate the attack and bring those responsible to justice.

“The secretary general reaffirms that the United Nations, through his special representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will continue to support the Congolese government and people,” said the UN spokesman.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Eastern DRC is home to multiple armed groups, including the rebel M23 force, which has been fighting a major campaign against government troops in recent months, supported by the UN mission there, known by its French acronym MONUSCO, as part of its protection-of-civilians mandate.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed during the violence at the hands of armed groups, including women and children.

In March 2022, eight peacekeepers were killed when their helicopter crashed in an area of North Kivu province where the Congolese army was engaged in heavy fighting with M23.

At a summit of the East African Community on Saturday in Burundi, regional leaders renewed their call for an immediate ceasefire by combatants involved in eastern DRC.

Kinshasa has accused the Rwandan government of supporting the M23 rebels, a charge denied by authorities in Kigali.

M23 has seized many areas of North Kivu province in eastern DRC since last October, threatening to advance on the provincial capital.

More than 500,000 have reportedly been displaced by intense fighting in the province since last March, and earlier in the week, Pope Francis made his first visit to DRC calling for an end to violence.

An agreement signed in November when rebels agreed to withdraw, failed to come to fruition.

The head of MONUSCO, and Special Representative to DRC, Bintou Keita, briefed the Security Council in December, telling ambassadors that the security situation had “deteriorated dramatically” in previous weeks.

(NAN)