MONUSCO head Martin Kobler in talks to militarily disarm rebels

By

Sylvain Muyali

Preparations for the joint and imminent attack against the Rwandan Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), were the main point of discussion at last Thursday’s meeting in Goma between the governor of the province of North Kivu, Julien Paluku and Martin Kobler, head of the Mission of the UN stabilization of DR Congo, MONUSCO.

Responding to journalists at the end of the interview, the Special Representative of the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of Congo indicated that sessions and high level meetings are sufficiently advanced for the FDLR military to definitively be removed, having been the cause of numerous abuses against innocent civilians in the North and South regions of the province of Kivu.

“With the Governor here we are all in agreement that we must neutralise the FDLR and thus put an end to looting, violations of human rights and rape” stated Martin Kobler, who lamented the continuing abuses against the same population during the six months of the moratorium earlier granted to the rebels to surrender voluntarily.

The messenger of Ban Ki Moon in the DRC has nonetheless said he was aware of the presence on Congolese soil of a large number of Rwandan refugees for which solutions must be found through the channel of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in view of their repatriation to their country in accordance with humanitarian principles.

Martin Kobler was therefore confident that with the joint efforts of the Armed Forces of the DRC and UN peacekeepers of the Intervention Brigade of MONUSCO, the authority of the Congolese State would effectively quell the threat of the FDLR rebels.

To a question as to whether the steps taken to spare the population take into account the incalculable consequences such as going against the ADF-Nalu in the territory of Beni, Governor Paluku assured all that the government was making provisions to save the population from any resulting actions from such a scenario.

Without wishing to reveal military strategies, he mainly called on his administration to cooperate with the defense and security services through the reporting of any suspect by everyone in his place of residence.

“What we ask our Congolese people is to work with our military, MONUSCO and the Police, calling for any sign of FDLR elements that want to hide in our population” Paluku stated.

In North Kivu, the political and administrative authorities at the base are already educated to identify their citizens in order for a clear idea about the identity as well as the origin of occupants in each plot, village, town, pool and leadership is known.

Sylvain Muyali

Sylvain Muyali is a Journalist, Photographer and Filmmaker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He has reported previously for the Associated Press and his words and images can also be found at ‘Vivons Positivement‘