Belgian parliamentarians have called on the international community to arrest genocidal forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for crimes committed against humanity. The nine MPs led by the Belgian minister for International Cooperation Charles Michel were yesterday concluding a one-day visit in Rwanda aimed at assessing regional security. The Belgian delegation had flown into Kigali from the DRC on Monday. “Many Rwandans who participated in the 1994 Genocide are roaming about in the mountains. The international community must collaborate in arresting them to answer charges of crimes against humanity,” MP Francois Roelants du Viver said at the residence of the Belgian Ambassador in Nyarugenge district. He said that a political solution sought by Congolese themselves would end the Congo crisis by engaging in home-grown solutions like the Kivu conference in eastern Congo. Estimated at over 10,000 fighters, the genocidal forces are grouped in what is known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) that has been at the heart of bloody conflicts in the region. Another MP, Alain Hutchinson called for reinforcement of the UN Mission in Congo (Monuc) to wipe out the negative forces. “They have the mandate; they should be able have enough troops to deal with that problem appropriately because it is affecting the whole region,” he said. The vice spokesman of the ministry of foreign affairs in Belgium, Francois Delhaye promised that Belgium will increase on its funding for the DRC if the Kivu conference talks succeed. “We injected 200,000 euros to facilitate the talks and we think that reconciliation should be the solution not impunity,” he said Meanwhile, Michel yesterday paid a tribute to both the victims of the 1994 Genocide at Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre and the Belgian Blue Helmets who were killed during the 1994 Genocide. After holding talks with different government officials, the delegation left for Uganda as part of efforts aimed at internalizing security situation in the Great Lakes Region. Ends
