MONUSCO

MONUSCO (Mission de l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en République démocratique du Congo) is the UN's stabilization mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was established by Security Council Resolution 1925 (2010), which renamed and reconfigured its predecessor, MONUC (created by Resolution 1279 in 1999 to monitor the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement following the Second Congo War).

The mission's mandate centers on the protection of civilians, support to the Congolese government in stabilization and peace consolidation, and assistance with security sector reform. It operates primarily in the conflict-affected eastern provinces — North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri — where armed groups including the M23, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), the FDLR, and various Mai-Mai factions have been active.

A distinctive feature of MONUSCO is the Force Intervention Brigade (FIB), authorized by Resolution 2098 (2013). The FIB was the first UN brigade explicitly mandated to carry out offensive operations to neutralize armed groups, marking a notable departure from traditional peacekeeping doctrine. It contributed to the defeat of the original M23 rebellion in late 2013 alongside the FARDC (Congolese army).

At its peak MONUSCO was among the UN's largest and most expensive peacekeeping operations, with authorized troop ceilings exceeding 20,000 uniformed personnel. The mission has faced persistent criticism over its inability to prevent massacres in remote areas, as well as anti-MONUSCO protests in cities such as Goma and Beni in 2022, some of which turned deadly.

In late 2023, President Félix Tshisekedi requested an accelerated withdrawal. The Security Council, through Resolution 2717 (2023), endorsed a phased drawdown beginning with disengagement from South Kivu in 2024. Withdrawal from North Kivu and Ituri has been linked to security conditions, complicated by the 2022–2024 resurgence of M23 and reported Rwandan involvement documented by the UN Group of Experts on the DRC.