The DRC North Kivu army command has been laboring to mudsling Rwanda with baseless accusations to justify their cooperation with FDLR Interahamwe. By making outrageous statements claiming that Rwanda was the reason they were getting a bloody nose in Rutchuru territory, the FARDC clique aims to create a baseless moral equivalence. Yet these are the very people working with FDLR, a terrorist group that committed genocide! This is what DRC is doing, but even worse, MONUSCO has allowed itself to be an accomplice in this crime.
Until recently, Congo authorities have been denying that they work with FDLR despite evidence that has been produced at different forums charged with the security of the Great Lakes Region and even at the level of the United Nations.
The level of cooperation between FARDC and FDLR has been not only military but also in a business where the latter has provided manpower to work at mines while the former provided security and logistics for the minerals. Things reached worrying levels when credible intelligence reports pointed fingers at MONUSCO joining the duo in the said trade in illegally exploited minerals.
This has frustrated efforts by stakeholders to disarm FDLR for subsequent repatriation and reintegration as agreed at different peace and security forums. To please those monitoring the efforts, the trio devised a diversionary plan where they repatriated the elderly, the sick, women, and children to Rwanda, leaving those active in military activities.
After decades of this status quo, the relationship between these three entities has become so established that it is difficult to dislodge them. The FDLR’s coming out is indicative of the fact that they don’t care anymore.
They feel that they have become part and parcel of the Congolese security apparatus and a divorce would be quite costly.
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