Off the wire
• Foreign exchange rate of Euro to other currencies  • Urgent: EU's Tusk says bilateral gas contracts should be in line with European law  • Update: Death toll rises to 26 in clashes between Libyan rival factions  • Russia's Northern Fleet conducts border protection exercises in Barents Sea  • UN homepage redesigned as "mobile friendly"  • Roundup: Canadian stock market loses ground over falling oil prices  • Urgent: Sanctions over Ukraine crisis linked to Minsk deal implementation: EU  • Germany's benchmark DAX index little changed  • PSG extend contract with Maxwell until next summer  • Roundup: U.S. stocks end mixed amid surging dollar  
You are here: 　 Home

UN envoy urges joint efforts against armed group FDLR

Xinhua, March 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

The UN envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Thursday called for joint efforts to fight the armed group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) as the country is still facing security threat from the group.

Martin Kobler, the UN Secretary-General's special representative and head of the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC ( MONUSCO), made the appeal while briefing the Security Council at a meeting on DRC.

"The overall security situation however is still not stable, let alone irreversible," he said. "Many still live in fear of rape, fear of attack, fear of being robbed of already meagre possessions. This fear affects every aspect of daily life."

More work is needed to reduce the threat from armed groups and violence against civilians to a level that can be effectively managed by Congolese institutions and to achieve stability through the establishment of functional, professional, accountable state institutions and strengthened democratic practices, Kobler said.

The greatest threat to peace and security in the Great Lakes Region remains the FDLR, said Kobler, who stressed the need for joint efforts to fight the armed group.

Tackling the FDLR requires a well-functioning demobilization and repatriation process and effective extension of state authority, he said, underscoring the need for non-military initiatives against the FDLR.

"There is no purely military solution to the problem of the FDLR," he said.

Also on the FDLR, Said Djinnit, the special envoy of the UN chief for the Great Lakes Region who attended the meeting, encouraged the DRC government and the UN Mission to engage in a structured strategic dialogue to resume full cooperation.

"The DRC and the Great Lakes Region have made considerable progress in overcoming the tragedies of the past but they are yet to achieve irreversible progress for lasting peace," Djinnit added.

As the primary remnant Rwandan Hutu rebel group fighting in the eastern part of the DRC, the FDLR is recognized by the Council as a group whose leaders and members were among the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

The eastern DRC has witnessed the threat posed by armed groups to state authority and civilian security since early 2012. Endite