Source: Felly Kimenyi, The New Times (Kigali)

Congo-Kinshasa: Rwanda, DRC Draw up FDLR Disarmament Plan

 

Military chiefs from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) have drawn up a disarmament plan for rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

According to security sources, the plan was designed during a meeting held in Gisenyi that brought together the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. James Kabarebe and Gen. Denis Kalume Numbi who commands the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) in the Eastern region.

The meeting was a follow-up to a similar one that brought together the two countries' Foreign Affairs Ministers, Rosemary Museminali of Rwanda and DR Congo's Alexis Tambwe Mwamba, last week. The Ministers agreed on sharing military information as a solution to the FDLR plan.

During the same meeting, military chiefs of both countries were tasked with drawing up a plan which would be presented for ministerial approval.

"The two generals and their delegations met in Rubavu town and they formulated a plan that will be examined and possibly validated by a ministerial meeting expected to take place next week in Goma," said the source who requested to remain anonymous.

It was agreed during the ministerial meeting that Rwandan intelligence officers be part of the military structure to help eradicate the FDLR who have been in the country for the last fourteen years.

The latest development comes after several agreements that were signed in an effort to flush out the FDLR, labelled both a terrorist group and a negative force by the United States of America, were frustrated by the unwillingness of the DR Congo to solve the problem.

The agreements include the Pretoria Agreement, the Lusaka Agreement, and other efforts by the regional security platform, the Tripartite Plus Joint Commission (TPJC) which brings together Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the DR Congo.

Most recently, the Nairobi communiqué was signed by both countries in an effort to deal with the FDLR which is reportedly fighting alongside the Congolese armed forces in their ongoing clashes with Gen. Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP).

Meanwhile, the Defence Minister Monday told parliament that meetings under a 'four plus four' platform on which high ranking officials from both countries sit have been going on.

Source: Felly Kimenyi, The New Times (Kigali)

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