{"id":118538,"date":"2026-01-03T18:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T18:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/minister-criticizes-monusco-for-weak-response-to-masisi-attack"},"modified":"2026-01-03T19:21:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T19:21:47","slug":"minister-criticizes-monusco-for-weak-response-to-masisi-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/minister-criticizes-monusco-for-weak-response-to-masisi-attack","title":{"rendered":"Minister Criticizes MONUSCO for Weak Response to Masisi Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Six people were killed and 41 others injured in a drone attack on Masisi Centre, the administrative capital of Masisi Territory, in North Kivu Province, on Friday, January 2.<\/p>\n

The AFC\/M23 rebels accused Kinshasa\u2019s military coalition that comprises thousands and thousands of Congolese army forces (FARDC), Burundian troops, Congolese militias called Wazalendo, genocidal militia from Rwanda (FDLR), and mercenaries from Latin America and Europe, of carrying out the attack from Uvira, South Kivu.<\/p>\n

A day later, on January 3, the UN mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO) stated that it \u201cis deeply concerned by reports of a drone strike in Masisi-centre, and strongly condemns any attack, including by drones, targeting or affecting civilians and civilian infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Knowing that UN peacekeepers are actually training FARDC soldiers particularly on the use of drones and heavy weapons, foreign minister Amb Olivier Nduhungirehe reacted to the UN mission\u2019s post, on X: \u201cTo better understand this \u2018condemnation\u2019 that is so mild from @MONUSCO, which doesn’t even mention its allies, the FARDC, as perpetrators of this war crime against Congolese civilians in Masisi Centre;<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us recall that on November 4, 2025, MONUSCO itself informed us on X that it had conducted training for 120 FARDC soldiers in Ituri, particularly on the use of drones and heavy weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pour mieux comprendre cette “condamnation” molle de la @MONUSCO, qui ne mentionne me\u0302me pas ses allie\u0301s FARDC comme auteurs de ce crime de guerre contre des civils congolais a\u0300 Masisi Centre;<\/p>\n

For long, the UN mission has been accused of providing the government-led coalition with information used to plan drone strikes against AFC\/M23 positions as well as on unarmed civilians in North Kivu Province.<\/p>\n

In February, rebel spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka also warned that Kinshasa continued massacring civilians in Minembwe, Uvira, and surrounding areas in eastern DR Congo\u2019s South Kivu Province, using attack drones guided by MONUSCO intelligence.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the UN mission called for an independent verification and the establishment of facts on Friday\u2019s deadly drone strike incident.<\/p>\n

In another post on X, Coulibaly Bojana, a Great Lakes conflict researcher and analyst, pointed out that: \u201cMONUSCO is clearly embarrassed at not being able to name the Congolese government\u2014which it directly supports operationally and logistically\u2014as the perpetrator of this heinous and targeted drone strike against Congolese civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Six people were killed and 41 others injured in a drone attack on Masisi Centre, the administrative capital of Masisi Territory, in North Kivu Province, on Friday, January 2. The AFC\/M23 rebels accused Kinshasa\u2019s military coalition that comprises thousands and thousands of Congolese army forces (FARDC), Burundian troops, Congolese militias called Wazalendo, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":118537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,29,14],"tags":[6999,2542,9184,3644,9185,4597,3645,6000,758],"class_list":["post-118538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-afc-m23","tag-dr-congo","tag-drone-attack","tag-fardc","tag-masisi-centre","tag-monusco","tag-north-kivu","tag-olivier-nduhungirehe","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nMinister Criticizes MONUSCO for Weak Response to Masisi Attack - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Six people were killed and 41 others injured in a drone attack on Masisi Centre, the administrative capital of Masisi Te ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/minister-criticizes-monusco-for-weak-response-to-masisi-attack\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minister Criticizes MONUSCO for Weak Response to Masisi Attack\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Six people were killed and 41 others injured in a drone attack on Masisi Centre, the administrative capital of Masisi Te ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/minister-criticizes-monusco-for-weak-response-to-masisi-attack\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-03T18:48:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-03T19:21:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/01\/sm_1767455043.338895.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/minister-criticizes-monusco-for-weak-response-to-masisi-attack#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/minister-criticizes-monusco-for-weak-response-to-masisi-attack\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Minister Criticizes MONUSCO for Weak Response to Masisi Attack\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-03T18:48:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-03T19:21:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/minister-criticizes-monusco-for-weak-response-to-masisi-attack\"},\"wordCount\":403,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/minister-criticizes-monusco-for-weak-response-to-masisi-attack#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/01\/sm_1767455043.338895.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"AFC\/M23\",\"DR Congo\",\"Drone Attack\",\"FARDC\",\"Masisi Centre\",\"Monusco\",\"NORTH KIVU\",\"Olivier Nduhungirehe\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/minister-criticizes-monusco-for-weak-response-to-masisi-attack#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/minister-criticizes-monusco-for-weak-response-to-masisi-attack\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/minister-criticizes-monusco-for-weak-response-to-masisi-attack\",\"name\":\"Minister Criticizes MONUSCO for Weak Response to Masisi Attack - 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