The Uganda House in Kinshasa was among several diplomatic missions targeted by angry mobs, who looted and set parts of the embassy ablaze.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kampala on Tuesday, Uganda’s embassy was breached, with crowds ransacking the premises and making off with valuable items.
Amateur footage shared online showed chaotic scenes of protesters vandalizing vehicles, smashing windshields, and scavenging engine parts.
The looters later set parts of the building on fire, with thick smoke billowing from burning car tires nearby.
The attacks on diplomatic missions were not limited to Uganda’s embassy. Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, France, and other nations also saw their embassies breached, with demonstrators attempting but failing to breach barricades at the US Embassy.
Kenya’s government condemned the attacks, calling on DRC authorities to restore order and protect foreign missions.
The unrest followed M23’s occupation of Goma on Monday, where the rebels were met with cheers from local residents as they moved to secure the city.
A door-to-door operation by M23 uncovered large caches of weapons and ammunition, though sporadic gunfire punctuated their efforts.
In stark contrast, Kinshasa descended into chaos, with government-backed protests seeing bonfires lit in the streets as looters wreaked havoc on diplomatic missions.
The incident has drawn sharp criticism, with calls for accountability and measures to prevent further violence against foreign entities.
Persecondnews reports that corruption in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is widespread at all levels of government, ranging from petty bribery involving local bureaucrats to grand-scale embezzlement of public funds by political elites.
Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures how effectively countries are perceived to control public-sector corruption, consistently ranks the DRC near the bottom.
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