Improvement of security in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is partly explained by the weakening of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda militia, a UN envoy told the Security Council Thursday.

Roger Meece, the head of the UN mission in DRC (MONUSCO) said that in the provinces of North and South Kivu, the FDLR, has been weakened. The FDRL, that has been terrorizing local communities in eastern DRC for the past decade and a half, is  mainly composed of perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

He added that the new development has encouraged a number of former combatants, some of them senior figures in the group, to surrender and return to Rwanda.

"There has been significant progress regarding the security situation in recent years in eastern DRC,” Meece said. He, however, observed that many challenges remain before stability is fully restored in conflict-afflicted areas.

DRC’s Ambassador to the UN, Ileka Atoki, told the council that his country is taking military and non-military measures to re-establish security in the entire country.

The arrest of senior FDLR political leaders in Europe, has also allegedly put a dent in the militia group’s operations – both on the ground in the DRC and internationally.

In November 2009, FDLR leader, Ignace Murwanashyaka, and his deputy, Straton Musoni, were arrested in Germany..

The following year, Callixte Mbarushimana, FDLR’s Executive Secretary, was arrested in France, on an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the DRC and transferred to The Hague.

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