Twelve arrested in DRC following illegal possession of weapons

By

Byobe Malenga

The military presented to the press in the Congolese city of Uvira twelve civilians suspected illegal possession of weapons. Weapons were found in their homes in Uvira and Fizi in the province of South Kivu.

According to the commander of military operations Sokola II in this province, General Bwange Safari, the military recovered twelve AK47 weapons, two armed anti-aircraft machine guns, a grenade launcher, a mortar of 82 millimeters, five RPG bombs, three machine guns, four walkie-talkies and nearly four thousand cartridges packed in bags.

The army official said, without giving details, that these weapons were recovered thanks to the collaboration of the civilian population.
General Bwange Safari says the majority of this stock of weapons was recently found during a cordon operation Mutarule I.

A group leader, a notable and four civilians were arrested in the village. They would hold weapons. Soldiers interrogated them for how they acquired these munitions.

The actors of civil society in Uvira welcomed this decision. They promised to work together to enable further investigations in other parts of the region.

For his part, General Bwange Safari called people to dissociate themselves from criminal networks. It invites illegal weapon holders to travel to the army.

Byobe Malenga

I have worked with the media (written and spoken press) for several years in various fields such as production of commercials, jingles, magazines, newspapers and other emissions. I have capitalized on the valuable experience of working with foreign radio in areas of partnership, social mobilization around water points, the setting-up of committees, etc.

I am currently working with the BBC World Service as a freelancer in Swahili, for Radio, TV and online. In addition to this I am also the officer manager and multimedia journalist at Radio Ngoma ya Amani RNA-FIZI www.rnafizi.net, as well as Editor of the newspaper ‘Journal Des Rapatries’.

I have already participated in several reporting missions on behalf of several radio stations such as Radio Television Groupe d’Avenir- Kinshasa as well as numerous training missions, animation workshops and support as the strategic planning and operational. I have already made several trips to Africa taking in Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique, the Republic of central Africa and the Congo Brazza.