EU to get tougher on FDLR

KIGALI - The European Union’s principal decision-making body, the EU Council has resolved to fully implement the UN Security Council resolutions against FDLR rebels as well as their leaders operating within the bloc. The decision was among the 13 conclusions adopted on the Great Lakes Region during the External Relations Council meeting that sat on Tuesday. “The Council is strongly committed to the full implementation of UNSCR 1804 and 1857, and has accordingly adopted restrictive measures on the DRC against FDLR, their leaders in Europe and other armed groups,” reads one of the Council’s conclusions. Still on the restrictive measures, the European Council noted that, “other concrete measures are being considered within the EU to tackle FDLR.” The FDLR is made of remnants of masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, in which over a million people perished. Prominent among FDLR leaders currently residing in European capitals is its chairman Ignace Murwanashyaka, who lives in the German town of Mannheim, his deputy, Straton Musoni, who lives in Hessian Neuffen, Germany, as well as Callixte Mbarushimana the group’s Secretary General residing in France. Several other genocide suspects, including the former First Lady, Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana, and Sosthene Munyemana still live in France. Interpol, has issued a Red Notices but has to date nabbed only 12 genocide fugitives world-wide. Ends

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EU to get tougher on FDLR