July 5. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The High Representative of the EU for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, pointed out this Monday that the EU is “closely following” the situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has shown its support for the affected civilian population and has urged armed groups to “lay down their arms”.
The rebel group March 23 Movement (M23) expressed on June 24 its refusal to withdraw from the town of Bunagana, located in eastern DRC and taken by the militiamen the previous week, despite the call of the East African Community ( EAC, according to its acronym in English) to the withdrawal of the rebels from all the areas they control to open a process of peace talks.
Borrell “condemns the attacks by armed groups as well as the cross-border incidents that have multiplied in recent weeks,” in a statement from the European Union.
Likewise, he stressed that “the authors of war crimes and crimes against humanity must be tried and not integrated into the security forces.”
“The M23 and other national and foreign armed rebel groups (including CODECO, FDLR and RED TABARA) must lay down their arms, renounce violence and withdraw from the areas they occupy,” Borrell said.
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