United Nations - The United Nations Security Council on Thursday backed plans by Democratic Republic of the Congo and UN peacekeepers to begin a military campaign to “neutralise” a Rwandan rebel group in the country's rugged eastern provinces.
The UN peacekeeping force in Congo (MONUSCO) has already started preparatory operations ahead of an offensive to dislodge the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which has been at the heart of years of conflict in Central Africa's Great Lakes region.
The FDLR, which includes former soldiers and Hutu militiamen responsible for carrying out Rwanda's 1994 genocide, failed to meet a January 2 deadline to disarm and surrender.
“The FDLR has not only failed to unconditionally and fully surrender and demobilise, but has also continued to recruit new fighters in their ranks,” the 15-member Security Council said in a statement.
“The Security Council further recalls that the swift neutralisation of the FDLR is a top priority in bringing stability to and protecting the civilians of the DRC and the Great Lakes region.”
It called on Democratic Republic of the Congo President Joseph Kabila to swiftly approve and implement a joint Congolese and MONUSCO plan “to neutralise the FDLR by commencing military operations immediately.”
The council said it was ready to consider targeted sanctions against individuals or entities supporting the FDLR.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said in a statement that the UN, Congo and regional governments “must now hold firm on their commitment to take immediate action to disarm the FDLR once and for all.”
“Twenty years after the genocide in Rwanda, there should be no further preconditions or delays in bringing the FDLR's long history of brutality and impunity to an end,” she said.
UN officials say active support of Congo's armed forces is vital for success against some 1,500 seasoned FDLR combatants spread across eastern Congo.
They also say Kabila's support for MONUSCO has been lacklustre so far, while the Congolese army has been responsible for human rights violations, including a mass rape in Minova in 2012 for which senior officers have not been held accountable.
Kabila told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that his army is ready to help peacekeepers fight the FDLR.
A senior UN official has said the operation would involve a special unit within MONUSCO known as the intervention brigade, which is mandated to aggressively search out and neutralise armed groups, along with regular MONUSCO peacekeepers. - Reuters