The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) failed to meet a UN deadline to remove two generals accused of rights abuses and now is to be formally notified that peacekeepers will not support its planned offensive against Rwandan rebels, a UN official said yesterday.
Under the UN human rights due diligence policy, the world body has to ensure that its support of non-UN security forces does not contribute to grave human rights violations.
The UN told Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs Raymond Tshibanda during a meeting in Ethiopia at the end of last month that he had two weeks to remove two generals: General Bruno Mandevu and General Fall Sikabwe, who UN officials accused of involvement in human rights violations.
The UN peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, “effectively stopped” support to the Congolese army (FARDC) for its planned military campaign against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) on Feb. 6 and now is to make that move official.
UN peacekeepers have been providing food, fuel, water and non-lethal equipment. Once the military offensive starts, MONUSCO could have supported the FARDC with combat helicopters, surveillance drones and peacekeeping units.
“The next step is the dispatch of formal letters to the relevant Congolese authorities concerning the cessation of support to the FARDC in these anti-FDLR operations,” the UN official said. “This will be completed by the end of the week.”
“In accordance with UN Policy document on human rights, the DRC authorities will have time from receipt of this formal communication to ensure conformity with the policy,” he said.
UN peacekeepers had been jointly planning an offensive with the Congolese army against the FDLR, which the UN estimates has 1,400 rebels in the eastern DR Congo.
The rebels failed to meet a deadline last month to surrender and then-Congolese army chief of staff Didier Etumba said that the operation would be an FARDC-led military offensive with UN support.
Congolese authorities appointed Mandevu to head the FARDC operation against the FDLR and Sikabwe as commander of the 34th military region, which covers the key area in the eastern DR Congo where the offensive is to happen.
The FARDC and the Congolese government were not available for comment.
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