Armed groups in DR Congo have been weakened: UN

The UN Mission for Stabilization of Congo (MONUSCO) said on Wednesday the destabilization capacity of armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) had been greatly reduced.

"Together with the DR Congo government, we have today reduced by 40 percent the capacity of armed groups to negatively impact on the country's development and reconstruction process," MONUSCO's Public Information Director Charles Bambara said during a press conference held in Kinshasa.

Bambara downplayed the magnitude of recent cases of attacks presumably carried out by fighters of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels in North Kivu province, but insisted that MONUSCO was taking the attacks seriously.

He said rebel groups' current mode of using guerrilla tactics clearly showed that they did not have capacity to regroup as they did in previous years.

"More efforts have been made and there's need for our forces to continue working together to consolidate the progress made," the UN official said.

MONUSCO's boss Martin Kobler who met North Kivu provincial authorities on Wednesday, affirmed that the mission's image had improved due to its efforts on the ground, but acknowledged that there are certain issues related to security that need to be addressed.

"We have the issue of FDLR which is still blocked, but which should be urgently addressed for sustainable peace to be achieved," Kobler said.

Joint operations by DR Congo army and MONUSCO against FDLR have been blocked for several days, but the UN has continued to appeal for immediate resumption of the cooperation to consolidate security efforts on the ground. Endit