Washington: The United States today asked Rwanda to immediately remove Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF) troops from Congolese territory. While welcoming the final report by the United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), it called on Rwanda to immediately cease support for the UN- and U.S.-sanctioned M23 armed group, which the Group of Experts has documented committing multiple violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses, including rapes and summary executions of civilians.
“We condemn the violence that has left so many dead, injured, displaced, and vulnerable to violence,” Matthew Miller, US State Department Spokesperson, said today. He said those responsible for these acts must be held accountable.
Washington called on all armed groups, including M23, CODECO, FDLR, MAPI, and others to cease hostilities and lay down their weapons. “We call on foreign non-state armed groups to return to their countries of origin and domestic armed groups to join the East African Community-led Nairobi Process consultations between the DRC government and armed groups,” Miller said.
The US also denounced the collaboration, endorsed by national military authorities, of Congolese armed forces (FARDC) elements with multiple armed groups, including the UN- and U.S.-sanctioned Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda or Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR), and reiterated its call for the government of the DRC to immediately stop all collaboration between these elements.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), also known as ISIS-DRC, was designated by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2021 and urged its partners to do the same. “We condemn the attacks by ISIS-DRC,” Miller said and added that Washington welcomes the report’s recommendations and continues to support African-led diplomatic efforts, including the Nairobi and Luanda processes, to promote lasting peace.
It may be mentioned that the Nairobi Process focuses on ending inter-DRC hostilities while the Luanda Process focuses on ending the hostility between DRC and its neighbour Rwanda whom it accuses of sponsoring the M23 rebel group creating havoc in DRC’s eastern region.
– global bihari bureau
