REGIONAL SECURITY - Despite the presence of the UN peacekeeping mission in the DR Congo, Monuc, Rwandan officials think there is a lot that needs to be done to fulfill its mandate.

President Kagame’s special envoy to the Great Lakes Region, Ambassador Dr. Richard Sezibera told The New Times yesterday that the mandate of Monuc in Congo is clear and understandable.

However, little has been done to disarm and repatriate a Rwandan rebel group, Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) since 1999.

He had just arrived from Goma, DRC where he led a delegation of seven officials to meet their Congolese counterparts on security concerns.

The meeting was a follow up on Foreign Minister Charles Murigande’s visit to Kinshasa, DRC capital last month. Minister Murigande discussed activities of negative forces in DRC.

 "The delegation also revived decisions of the joint commissions which verify allegations against both countries,” he said.

The two joint commissions which are made of military and security officials are mandated with verifying allegations. But Monuc and African Union (AU) are invited as third parties to participate.

Dr. Sezibera did not want to discuss Rwanda’s allegations against DRC but he said, "Rwanda has disturbing information about the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR).” 

Rwanda was alleging that there were EX-FAR and Interahamwe forces in centers where DRC was integrating (Brasage) rebel brigades into the national army.

Dr Sezibera also said the Congolese side had ignored the business of the commissions because theirs never appeared for the meeting in Kinshasa in November 2006.

However Monuc is part of the commission because the relationship between the two countries is not mature enough to hold talks independently.

But also, Monuc comes is to support DRC in logistical and organizational constraints.
Chief of External Security, Lt.Col. Joseph Nzabamwita and Army Spokesperson Jill Rutaremara among others attended the meeting.

The two delegations did not discuss security concerns in depth because the respective foreign ministers had discussed the same issues in Kampala, Uganda last week in the Tripartite-Plus Joint Commission.
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