DRC rejects latest ICG report

DRC - Democratic Republic of Congo has rejected the content and conclusions in a recent International Crisis Group (ICG) report which alleges there is no stability in eastern DRC, two years after the collaboration between Rwanda and its neighbor to end the conflict. The ICG’s Africa Report N°165 of November titled: “Congo: No Stability in Kivu despite Rapprochement with Rwanda,” claims that the plan to resolve the conflict in the Kivu is failing.ICG claims that “neither side has the strength to win, but both have the resources to prolong the fighting indefinitely” but Congolese Minister of Communications, Lambert Mende Omalanga, questions ICG’s right to oppose strategies by the Rwandan and DRC leaders. “Our feeling is that those like ICG are in trouble because Africans are starting to find their own solutions to this crisis thus making them lose jobs, budgets and mandates – opportunities they were enjoying when we were not communicating amongst us (Rwanda and DRC),” Mende said.“We demonstrated that joint action taken by FARDC and RDF [both countries’ armies] against the Rwandan negative elements in Kivu was fruitful.”In early 2009, Rwandan and Congolese troops mounted a joint offensive [Operation Umoja Wetu] against negative forces, especially ex-Far/Interahamwe elements now grouped under the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), The (FDLR) comprises mainly perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. “We also indicated that there is no need of foreign interference when bringing peace in our region and that after all MONUC (MONUSCO) has been there for more than ten years without significant result. Why shouldn’t we try a bilateral approach?”The ICG alleges that “a strategy based on secret presidential commitments will not bring peace to the Kivu: the present approach must be reevaluated and broadened.Earlier, Minister Mende had revealed that he intends “to publish a book about attempts by neo-colonialists to maintain this country, as well as other African States, under their control by using groups such as ICG.”“We are fed up with these guys.”While meeting in Kigali earlier this month, members of the Great Lakes Parliamentary Forum on Peace, better known as the Amani Forum, noted that the Great Lakes region should not be swayed by western influences while seeking solutions to its own problems. Ends

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DRC rejects latest ICG report