UN priority for 2015: disarming rebels in the Congo


The military offensive against the Rwandan Hutu rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a priority for the UN, a senior envoy has announced.

The rebels known as the Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda or FDLR failed to deliver on their promise to disarm and surrender unconditionally by 2 January.
The Secretary-General has urged "decisive action" against them.

The DRC government and the peacekeeping mission in the country MONUSCO, including its Force Intervention Brigade, will carry out joint operations.

Martin Kobler who is head of the UN Mission in the DRC deplores that the efforts made to disarm them failed.

"It's a process that was not credible, not sincere. We spent 1.6 million dollars to maintain the [FDLR transit] camps in Kisangani [in Orientale Province], in Kanyabayonga [in North Kivu] and Walungu [in South Kivu]. In the end, we demobilized only 357 combatants."

The economic development of the liberated areas in the eastern part of the Congo is another priority for MONUSCO in 2015, Kobler notes.

SOURCE: Jocelyne Sambira, United Nations.