The base, along with others scheduled to close by the end of the year, will be handed over to the military.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has closed one of its major bases in the Central African nation as it prepares to leave the country this year at the request of the government.

The mission, also known as MONUSCO, which has helped in the fight against rebels for more than two decades, closed a base near the city of Bukavu in a ceremony attended Thursday by Bintou Keita, the head of MONUSCO, along with Congolese military and government officials.

The base, along with others scheduled to close by the end of the year, will be handed over to the military.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Thursday during a press conference at the organisation’s headquarters in New York that peacekeepers from Pakistan, who constituted the bulk of the forces deployed in South Kivu province, are leaving after more than 20 years of service.

“Since 2003, when they were first deployed, more than 100,000 peacekeepers from Pakistan have served in South Kivu, including 31 Pakistani soldiers who died in the line of duty, in the service of the United Nations and the people of the Congo,” he said.

About 2,000 UN soldiers were slated to leave South Kivu by the end of April, taking the strength of MONUSCO down to 11,500 peacekeepers, according to the Congolese government.

MONUSCO’s departure comes after the Congolese government, which was re-elected in a disputed vote late December, said that the increasingly unpopular mission has failed to protect civilians from armed groups.

The Rwandan-backed M23 rebels and numerous other armed groups are active in restive eastern areas of the country, including North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri provinces, where millions of civilians face violence and internal displacement.

Fourteen UN bases are expected to be taken over by DRC security forces, followed by a phased departure of UN forces from North Kivu and Ituri.

MONUSCO has been operating in the DRC for more than 13 years, having taken over from an earlier UN operation in 2010.

The Congolese government has also directed an African regional force, deployed last year to help end the fighting, to leave the country for similar reasons as the UN peacekeeping mission.