DR Congo: Integration of rebel troops to continue

• FDLR suffers more setbacks GOMA – The integration of former rebels of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) into the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) national army (FARDC), is set to continue up to February 2. According to Capt. Olivier Hamuli, the spokesman for FARDC and Umoja Wetu – the joint Rwanda -DRC military operation in eastern DRC – The process which kick-started Thursday was just the beginning and it will carry on for the next few weeks in different regions. “Now the plan is in progress, it was launched on Thursday but it will go on up to the second of February. That is how the calendar is,” Capt. Hamuli told The New Times at the Joint Command Headquarters in Goma Friday. “On Saturday, another similar exercise is scheduled to take place in Kimoka, a place in Masisi, near Sake.” CNDP’s initial absorption into FARDC or DRC Armed Forces started when a unit of some 60 CNDP soldiers this week became the first to be officially given their new FARDC uniform in a jubilant and well-attended ceremony at Rumangabo. Rumangabo is a military camp located in DRC’s North Kivu Province. Government officials including Defence Minister Charles Mwando Nsimba and Julien Paluku, the Governor of North Kivu, as well as Lt. Gen. John Numbi, Commander of Umoja Wetu, the joint Rwanda -DRC military operation in eastern DRC graced the event. According to Capt. Hamuli, the CNDP is estimated at 6,200 strong and all these will soon be incorporated into the national army. • FDLR suffers more defeats In the latest statement released Friday, the joint Rwanda-DRC military offensive against ex-Far/Interahamwe, captured more men and munitions in the territories of Rutshuru and Masisi Thursday. The statement indicates that several FDLR positions were destroyed in Nyamitwitwi, Nyakakoma, as well as in the forests of Kazaroho and Kiramba. Six rebels including a Captain, reportedly of FDLR’s 3rd battalion, gave themselves in while three rebels were captured with two AK-47 rifles with ammunition. “Elsewhere, during mopping up operations in Kibua sector, our forces found the body of Major Leonidas Reberaho alias Shota Makala,” the statement signed by Lt. Gen. John Numbi, Commander of Umoja Wetu reads. According to the communiqué, Maj. Reberaho is reported to have been the Commandant of FDLR’s S4 reserve brigade. It also reveals the surrendering of Maj. Mai-Mai Kifuafua with 28 men, two of whom were officers and, 13 AK-47 riffles, all at Ufuamandu in Masisi. Ends