EDITORIAL: It's high time Monusco took its mandate seriously

The United Nations Organisation Stabilization Mission in the Congo (Monusco) is still inexplicably dragging its feet to do a job it should have accomplished when it first deployed some fifteen years ago. Eliminating the present-day FDLR militia was an essential part of the mandate of Monusco (formerly Monuc) when the force arrived in the rebel infested country in 2000, yet 15 years on, the mission continues to look the other way as the FDLR continues to kill, rape and maim innocent Congolese civilians at will, while at the same time it remains a threat to Rwanda and the region at large, essentially through its genocide ideology. It is rather incomprehensible that an UN peacekeeping force, the largest in the world – now with more than 23,000 troops, including a brigade with an unprecedented mandate to attack targets –, with an annual budget of 2 billion US dollars, can choose to sacrifice the ethos of international peacekeeping at the altar of politicking and venomous extremism. On January 2, a six-month deadline issued by the leaders of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the UN Security Council for the FDLR to unconditionally and fully disarm voluntarily or face military action passed without the militia showing willingness to do so. Instead, according to reports by UN experts, humanitarian agencies and rights organisations, the FDLR used the grace period to rearm, forcibly recruit child soldiers, and actively mobilise political support. It should be recalled that this was just one among many ultimatums that militia has disregarded with impunity. Bizarrely, Monusco and the Congolese army, rather than launch an offensive against the FDLR, they attacked a much smaller Burundian rebel group FNL on Monday, a move, the Head of the Monusco, Martin Kobler, would later claim was “a strong signal for all armed groups, including the FDLR, to choose peace and surrender”. What strong signal? Why come up with all sorts of manoeuvres in desperate attempt to delay long-awaited military action against a negative force that’s led by and composed of elements responsible for the slaughter of more than a million people during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and more vicious atrocities in the years that followed? Some people may never wish to hear such uncomfortable questions but until the FDLR issue is confronted squarely it’s hard to envisage lasting peace in Eastern DR Congo in the foreseeable future. Monusco has the opportunity to salvage its long tainted image by decisively acting against FDLR with or without the support of the Congolese army, whose collaboration with the FDLR is a matter of public record. The international community, including the UN Security Council, African Union, European Union, among other actors, need to take unwavering leadership on this issue and ensure that the opportunity to finally pacify eastern Congo is not lost.

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EDITORIAL: It's high time Monusco took its mandate seriously