UN peacekeepers opened fire and injured eight people in the Democratic Republic of Congo after being prevented from crossing an immigration post from Uganda, a local official said. Video of the incident, shared on social media showed men, at least one in police uniform and another in army uniform, advancing towards the immobilised UN convoy behind a closed barrier in Kasindi. The town is in eastern DR Congo’s Beni territory on the border with Uganda. After a verbal exchange, the peacekeepers appeared to open fire before opening the gate, driving on and continuing to shoot while people scattered or hid. Barthelemy Kambale Siva, the North Kivu governor’s representative in Kasindi, said that “eight people, including two policemen who were working at the barrier, were seriously injured” in the incident. Kambale Siva, interviewed by AFP, did not give a reason for why the UN convoy was prevented from crossing the barrier. There are more than 120 militias operating in the DRC’s troubled east. The UN first deployed an observer mission to the region in 1999. In 2010, it became the peacekeeping mission MONUSCO — the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — with a mandate to conduct offensive operations.