Tanzania resolves to support peacekeeping missions despite losing 14 soldiers

DAR ES SALAAM, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Tanzania People's Defense Forces (TPDF) said on Sunday the killing of its 14 peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will never distract its support towards peacekeeping missions.

Lieutenant General James Mwakibolwa, TPDF's Chief of Staff, said the killing of the peacekeepers has given the army morale to support the UN's peacekeeping missions.

"We will continue supporting peacekeeping missions and we will never stop flying the country's flag both locally and internationally," Mwakibolwa told a news conference in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

The Chief of Staff described the incident as the worst since the army was assigned in the DRC in 2011.

"We will never be frightened by such coward acts by these rebels. The grisly incident has just pushed us to another level of the courage to fight on and ensure we restore peace in the world," he said.

Mwakibolwa said plans to transport the bodies of the deceased soldiers were being done, adding that the bodies were expected to arrive in the country next week.

The peacekeepers were killed by suspected militiamen on Thursday night, the deadliest attack on Tanzanian soldiers in the DRC in recent memory.

Mwakibolwa said the fight between the two sides lasted for about 13 hours.

On Saturday, President John Magufuli asked people who attended the 56th Independence Anniversary celebrations in the new capital Dodoma to observe one minute of silence in honor of the 14 killed Tanzanian peacekeepers.

"I am calling upon my fellow Tanzanians to pray for those who died as well as those injured so that they recover quickly," said President Magufuli who doubles as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

The killed soldiers were part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known as MONUSCO.

Established in 2010, MONUSCO, the United Nations' largest peacekeeping mission, has recorded 93 fatalities of military, police and civilian personnel, said the reports.

The 3,000 strong UN intervention brigade consists of troops hailing evenly from Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa.

In 2015, two Tanzanian peacekeepers were killed when their patrol was ambushed at the same North Kivu province. In September and October this year, another three Tanzanian peacekeepers were killed in separate rebel attacks in the DRC.

In a statement last week UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack saying the killing of peacekeepers was unacceptable and constituted to war crimes. Enditem