DRC - Security
UN-backed anti-rebel offensive in east Congo to end
Source : AFP 16.12.2009
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16, 2009 (AFP) - A controversial UN-backed military offensive has succeeded in disrupting Rwandan Hutu rebel forces in eastern Congo and will be wrapped up by the end of the month, a UN envoy said Wednesday.
Alan Doss, the UN special envoy to Democratic Republic of Congo, told the Security Council that the objective of the Kimia II operation against rebels of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) "has been largely achieved although... there have been very serious humanitarian consequences."
Since early this year, the offensive had led to the surrender of more than 1,400 FDLR fighters, roughly three times the average of previous years, he said, noting that it would be wrapped up by December 31.
But the UN-backed operation has come under fire from human rights groups and independent experts for causing hundreds of civilian deaths.
In a report released Monday but rejected by Kinshasa, Human Rights Watch said the offensive had led to more than 1,400 civilians murdered this year by both Congolese troops and rebels.
"HRW has documented at least 1,400 civilian killings, many in horrific circumstances during the course of the year," Steve Crawshaw, the UN advocacy director for the New York-based rights group, told AFP.
"We fear the number is only the tip of a much larger iceberg and yet we still see a reluctance by the UN to confront the enormity of the crimes that have been committed," he added.
In a recent report for the Security Council, independent experts also said this year's attempts by Congolese, Rwandan and UN forces to disarm Rwandan Hutu rebels in eastern DRC failed and even worsened the humanitarian crisis in the Kivus.
Their report alleged that the FDLR recruits and arms fighters using profits from a corrupt international trade in minerals, and called on the international community to step up efforts to cut off rebel funds.
The FDLR has been active in eastern DR Congo for 15 years. Some of its older members are accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, which targeted the Tutsi minority and claimed about 800,000 lives.
Doss stressed that the government-led operations were not expected "to completely dismantle" the Rwandan Hutu rebel force.
"The FDLR remains a potent threat and they will seek to return to their former strongholds and punish the population for collaboration with governmental forces," he warned.
He said that under a new directive, DRC government troops and MONUC "will now concentrate on holding ground recovered from the FDLR and preventing attacks on civilians in areas of vulnerability" while conducting targeted strikes against any command and control centers where the FDLR may have regrouped.
The FDLR threat can only be ended through a combination of military pressure, proper state control of the trade in mineral resources and judicial proceedings against "expatriate elements that continue to fund, encourage and assist criminal activities" in eastern Congo, Doss noted.
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