MONUSCO estimates that there are only less than 1,000 FDLR fighters left in eastern DRC

May 6. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The Stabilization Mission of the United Nations Organization in the Congo (MONUSCO) estimates that there are only less than 1,000 combatants of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), accused by Kinshasa of participating in the violence in the east of the country. , after the repatriation to Rwanda of 30,000 members of the group and relatives in the last nine years.

The Rwandan government accuses the Congolese authorities of financing this group which, together with militias such as the March 23 Movement (M23), have turned the northern province of North Kivu into a powder keg that has left hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and refugees in the last months.

“We have already repatriated 30,000 Rwandans, including FDLR fighters and their dependents, and today we can estimate that there are less than 1,000 FDLR fighters present on Congolese soil,” said Jean-Claude Bahati Muhindo, head of disarmament and demobilization of MONUSCO, during a press conference in Goma, the capital of North Kivu, reported by the newspaper Actualité.

However, the head of MONUSCO has warned that this enormous decrease in combatants does not make the group less dangerous because the FDLR is “different from other armed groups” as it is a very well organized force.

The FDLR are Rwandan Hutu rebels described as genocidal by the Kigali regime and have been on Congolese soil since 1994 after the fall of Juvénal Habyarimana. The rebellion is accused of various abuses and crimes documented by international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

The Congolese government has denied all the accusations and singled out Rwanda for supporting the M23 — charges rejected by Kigali — in a situation that for some time now seems to have diminished in tension, although there is evidence of sporadic skirmishes.