Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has accused the United Nations of “preserving terrorism” in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, where the world agency’s peacekeepers have been unable to avert deadly attacks by Islamist rebels.
Reuters reports Museveni to have leveled the claims in a statement after a meeting with U.N. officials who were investigating an ambush of peacekeepers in eastern Congo last month. 15 people were killed and 53 wounded.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan Islamist rebel group that has been operating in the chaotic eastern Congo jungles for years, was widely blamed for the attack.
“The United Nations is responsible for preserving terrorism in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Museveni told U.N. investigators, according to the statement from his office.
The statement did not however elaborate the president’s remarks further, and his spokesperson did not respond to calls seeking an explanation.
There was no comment yet from the U.N. as at the time of this article’s publication.
The attack on the peacekeepers was described by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres as the worst on the world body in recent history.
The Secretary General however said an investigation would be launched to figure out who was behind the attack and how it was conducted.
