The representatives of the Guarantors of the Peace, Security and Cooperation (PSC) Framework comprising of the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU), the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), travelled to Kanyabayonga and Nyamilima on 25 May 2016, in eastern DRC. In Kanyabayonga camp, about 314 FDLR ex-combatants and their dependents are awaiting repatriation in a MONUSCO DDRRR camp.
The visit afforded the representatives of the Guarantors to reiterate to the FDLR members, who voluntarily disarmed in December 2014, and have since then refused to go back to Rwanda, to cooperate fully in the repatriation process to Rwanda. From Kanyabayonga, the representatives of the Guarantors called on all other FDLR combatants still active in the eastern DRC to voluntarily surrender and submit to the repatriation process without preconditions.
About 202 other ex-FDLR and their dependents have disarmed and are currently in Walungu camp, South Kivu, and around 806 in another camp in Kisangani. “We assure all FDLR of the international community’s commitment to support their safe and dignified repatriation process back to Rwanda”, the Guarantors stressed.
On 26 May, representatives of the Guarantors visited the Munigi Disarmament, Demobilization, Repatriation, Reinsertion and Resettlement (DDRRR) camp outside Goma where they met demobilized FDLR ex- combatants awaiting repatriation to Rwanda. They used the occasion to commend the ex-combatants for their wise decision and urged them to sensitize their peers still in the bush to accept to repatriate to Rwanda.
Prior to the visit to Munigi, the representatives of the Guarantors visited the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism (EJVM) in Goma where they were briefed on the Mechanism's activities, including operational challenges and constraints.
The Guarantors seized the opportunity to welcome the resumption of military operations against FDLR launched on 24 May by the Armed Forces of the DRC with the support of MONUSCO. They urged FARDC and MONUSCO to further strengthen their cooperation against FDLR in the context of Operation SUKOLA II
The Guarantors of the PSC Framework are composed of the United Nations represented by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to the Great Lakes Region, Said Djinnit, and the Deputy Special Representative of MONUSCO David Gressly; the AU represented by the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission for the Great Lakes Region and Head of AU Liaison Office in Burundi, Prof. Ibrahima Fall; the ICGLR represented by its Executive Secretary General Prof Ntumba Luaba Alphonse; and the SADC represented by Mr. Alfredo Nuvunga, Deputy Director, Directorate for Regional and Continental Integration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Republic of Mozambique.
Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Office of the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for the Great Lakes region (OSESG-GL).
Source: Apo-Opa
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