Editor,

It would be an excellent idea for the EASF to relieve Monusco of the task of eradicating FDLR, ADF and other foreign terror groups from eastern DR Congo. However, the 1.5-billion dollar question is whether the UN and its Monusco and Monusco-FIB are willing to get out of the way despite their clear failure and unwillingness to fulfill their mandate from the UNSC.

I suspect they will do everything in their power to frustrate any attempts to replace them with forces not under their control.

Neither, I suspect, is the Kinshasa Government, its military and their regional and non-African allies interested in an solution to the perennial FDLR problem that eliminates a convenient alibi for their misgovernance and an excuse for their failure to account for the scandalous and prodigious squandering of the country’s incredible (as we are told all the time) natural resources.

Mwene Kalinda

Reaction to the Editorial, "Forget Monusco, call in EASF” (The New Times, February 19)