Why FDLR militia continues to prey on civilians 21 years later

Editor, Refer to the article, “Action, not rhetoric will end FDLR, analysts say” (The New Times, May 21). The only arrow available in all these worthies quiver against the FDLR is noisy bluster, not least because many of them—from the UN Security Councils penholder for the Great Lakes region (i.e. France) to the massive UN bureaucracy responsible for the misnamed peacekeeping function (itself headed by one French diplomat after another from the moment their country shepherded the ex-FAR and Interahamwe into eastern DR Congo in 1994, to the DR Congo government that has a ready-made excuse for its incompetence and abject failure to better the lot of its society despite unmatchable natural resources. And, finally, to the predatory global resources extraction companies who are getting Congo’s resources on the very cheap (just a few well-targeted bribes to key Congolese officials), without having to pay taxes, loyalties or dividends to the Congolese state. With all these parties in on the banquet that the FDLR-induced insecurity enabled, we can all be sure there will be no action against this genocidal band of cutthroats any time soon. The unfortunate Congolese population in eastern DRC will continue to bear the brunt. The rest of the DR Congo population will continue to see their resources exploited by major multinationals, even as they themselves wallow deeper into poverty and misery far into the future. And the rest of the sub-regions people will continue to be deprived of the opportunities for trade and mutual gain that a secure, stable and really developing DR Congo would represent for its neighbours. Mwene Kalinda *************************** I am failing to understand why regional countries cant come up with a concrete decision against the FDLR. Besides the atrocities they committed in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda, FDLR continues to pose serious security threat to the whole region. I must say that, regional countries have what it takes to stop the FDLR militia, but what is needed is effective implementation – and time to act is now. I must also put it that, if a joint initiative by regional countries was to successfully help shatter the FDLR, it would serve as an example to the rest of Africa – a lesson that homegrown solutions are the way to go. Abraham

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Why FDLR militia continues to prey on civilians 21 years later