Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - The announced Congolese army offensive against the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) rebel group will take place without the concurrence of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO). The FDRL, operating for decades in North Kivu in eastern DRC, are one of the various armed groups that spread terror in the area.
January 2 was the ultimatum launched by the government in Kinshasa to the FDLR to surrender. "At this point, one expected that the Congolese army and MONUSCO would finally begin a joint military operation against them", says a note sent to Agenzia Fides by Peace Network for Congo. But when, on January 29, the Chief of General Staff of the Congolese army announced the imminent start of operations, the spokesman pointed out immediately that it was an operation planned and conducted by the Congolese army and not in conjunction with MONUSCO, as initially planned.
The official reasons adopted by the Congolese government is that the UN had wrongly accused Kinshasa of wanting to delay operations and therefore be an accomplice of the FDLR, when instead it simply asked for more time for their preparation.
According to the note instead the reasons are of a different order. In particular, the UN called for the removal of two Congolese generals accused of serious human rights violations. The Congolese authorities are not in a hurry to disarm the FDLR which, according to the Network for Peace in Congo, "have often been very useful forces in fighting successive Congolese rebellions (RCD, CNDP and M23) backed by Rwanda".
Finally, if the Congolese army eventually start operations against the FDLR without the concurrence of the UN, serious human rights violations are feared.
"The plan originally conceived by MONUSCO included measures to protect the civilian population", says the document. In fact, the Rwandan Hutu rebels live with the population and the previous military operations of 2009 had caused hundreds of thousands of displaced people. "Therefore, there is concern at a humanitarian level and skepticism about the real capacity of the Congolese armed forces to conduct these operations alone" the statement concludes. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/02/2015)
