UN support for a planned military operation against Rwandan rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) could be in doubt because the DR Congo named a general accused of rights abuses to head the offensive, diplomats and officials said on Friday.
Congolese General Bruno Mandevu was appointed on Sunday last week to head a Congolese army operation against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which had been jointly planned with the UN peacekeeping mission in the DR Congo, known by its French-language acronym, MONUSCO.
Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mandevu had been placed by MONUSCO on a so-called red list over accusations of 121 rights violations, including summary executions and rapes.
“If, because of the past record of units or their commanders, there are substantial grounds to believe there is a real risk that they commit grave human rights violations, support to those units will be withheld unless adequate mitigating measures can be put in place,” a senior MONUSCO official told reporters.
The Congolese army and the nation’s government were not immediately available for comment.
During a meeting last Sunday with MONUSCO head Martin Kobler and envoys from the US, Britain, France, Belgium and the EU, Kabila said that it would be an Congolese army operation and not a joint campaign with the UN, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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