The over 1,000-km road trip followed the recent routing of M 23 rebels in the region by the army. Following the recent defeat of M 23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, by the army and the Special Intervention Brigade of UN peacekeeping force, MONUSCO, President Joseph Kabila last week began a road tour of the region formerly held by the rebels.

The over 1,000 km road trip that began on November 20, 2013 in Kisangani in Eastern Province, has since taken him to Bunia. He is expected in the North Kivu provincial headquarters of Goma today, November 26, 2013, where a cabinet meeting will hold later this week, Radio France Internationale, RFI reported. Observers say the Head of State opted to make the long trip by road to assure the people of the return of State authority to the area M 23 rebels occupied only three weeks ago.

President Kabila on Friday, November 22, 2013, held discussions with Eastern Province Governor, Jean Bamanisa Saidi and the executive of the provincial assembly. The Speaker of the Provincial Parliament, Philippe Masikini, said they discussed security, economic and social problems with a plea to the President to ensure the return of peace and security to Ituri and Bas-Uélé areas where local and foreign armed groups continue to operate, the Digital Congo website reported.

The spokesman of North Kivu civil society groups, Barrister Me Omar Kavota, urged the President to take urgent action against armed groups in the region, facilitate the return of displaced people and prosecute soldiers accused of sexual abuses in Minova area in 2012, ‘La Tempête des Tropiques’ said.

Congo-Kinshasa