Former senior officer claims army pair have been 'abandoned' in DRC

File and unrelated image of soldiers in training

A former senior Irish Army officer has claimed two serving colleagues “have been completely abandoned” after the Department of Defence was unable to say what progress it's making in trying to airlift them out of an increasingly volatile Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Other nations have removed their troops from the Goma area where the two Irish officers are serving, because locals are blaming UN soldiers for the spread of Covid-19. In addition, fighting has broken out between DRC government forces and insurgents. This has led to a refugee crisis and an estimated 200,000 have fled their homes as a result.