M23 rebels regrouping

Congolese soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo(FARDC) stand next to their burning vehicle after an ambush near the village of Mavivi in North Kivu province January 2, 2014.

UN warns it will thwart any rebel return in DR Congo

The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo will not “tolerate” a resurgence of the M23 rebel group, the top UN official there has said.

In a statement to the Security Council, the UN Special Representative in DR Congo cited “credible reports that the military recruitment of the M23 did not cease” after a December peace deal.

“There are also credible reports of emerging M23 activities in Ituri in northeastern Congo,” Martin Kobler said.

 

“We should tolerate no military reemergence of the M23,” he said, referring to the latest incarnation of an ethnic Tutsi rebellion.

The group laid down its arms in early November 2013 after an offensive by government troops backed by a special UN brigade.

Kobler insisted there can be “no roll back on what has been achieved so far.”

And he urged “the governments of Uganda and Rwanda to do everything possible to prevent M23 elements from sheltering or training troops on their territory.”

UN experts have accused Kigali and Kampala of giving military aid to the M23, which both countries have denied.

Speaking to reporters later, however, Kobler sought to minimize the danger: “M23 is militarily defeated, the ex-combatants have to be integrated.”

The UN mission in DR Congo should focus on what he called “our first priority”: fighting the FDLR, a Rwandan rebel group that includes the remnants of the Hutu militia which carried out Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

Kobler also encouraged “Congolese forces to do more and to intensify joint planning and execution of operations against the FDLR.”

After clearing several FDLR positions, Kobler said, the UN mission in DR Congo is preparing further operations.

“The (FDLR) leadership must be left with no choice other than surrender,” he insisted, recalling that this is the 20th anniversary since the genocide.

Kobler also said that “military actions against the ADF are expected soon,” naming another armed group active in eastern DR Congo.

Mary Robinson, the UN special representative for the Great Lakes region, told the Security Council “the positive atmosphere” from the December peace talks “has vanished.”

“The region is going through a period of renewed turbulence,” Robinson said via teleconference, referring to a series of attacks against the regime of President Joseph Kabila on December 30 in Kinshasa and Lumumbash.

She also announced plans to organise “in the first half of 2014.” a meeting aimed at attracting private investors to the Great Lakes region.

Robinson was in Kinshasa from Jan.12 and met the Congolese Prime Minister Augustin Matata Pnoyo and his foreign affairs minister Raymond Tshibanda.