{The M23 Movement has condemned the government of DRC President Joseph Kabila over the “unacceptable laissez faire attitude” towards North Kivu after the Ugandan rebel group, ADF, slaughtered scores of civilians especially women and children in the worst massacres since the year began.}
The criminal attacks were perpetrated in the Ngadi and Kadou localities near the town of Beni, sparking outrage from the international community.
M23 which used to operate from Kivu said, “Our fellow North Kivu compatriots and those of the “Great North” are looking like orphans at the moment as they are suffering the abject cruelty of the ADF, a group which is murdering them under the incomprehensible and unacceptable silence of the country’s highest authorities.”
The group’s leader, Bertrand Bisiimwa exclusively told Chimpreports on Thursday the killings in Eastern Congo were “predictable and therefore preventable,” but that the war-torn area “has not got a special attention from the Government to put in place a conflict prevention strategy.”
Bisiimwa observed that the area is known to be infested with bandits especially ADF, “an enemy well known for its recurring criminal activities against civilians for decades.”
He alleged the attackers were able to inflict considerable damage on the civilian communities because “they would take several hours killing people without any intervention by DRC forces.”
“The criminal actions took place in an area concentrated with several regiments of the Government’s army and MONUSCO’s units which have been preparing for combat against negative groups,” said Bisiimwa.
Following the defeat of M23 in December 2013, DRC troops and a UN intervention Brigade decided to fight the deadly ADF movement.
On 17 January 2014, FARDC launched ‘Operation Sukola I’ against ADF in Beni territory of North Kivu Province to neutralize the ADF and its leaders, release remaining hostages and completely restore State authority in the affected areas.
FARDC claims dislodging ADF from their bases with heavy gun power.
Highly placed sources say over 500 DRC soldiers were killed in the war against ADF.
However, pressure is mounting on Congo to fully clean Eastern Congo of militants occupying large swathe of territory and restore full state control.
Bisiimwa maintained that government’s failure to prevent the massacres underlines the “complacency and procrastination of the DRC’s Government which is in favour of the negative forces which are one of the main causes of chronic insecurity that has brought sorrow to our families and asphyxiated our towns and villages for three decades.”
He also denounced what he termed as the “surprising and unjustified passivity of the MONUSCO and its Brigade’s response to the various negative forces whose neutralization is, however, the basis of its mandate granted by the Security Council of the United Nations in its resolution 2098.”
Bisiimwa told the international community that security and peace will not come from the “outside but will be the result of our own efforts, our reconciliation and our sacrifices. The tragedy facing the ‘great-North’ at the moment, despite the strong presence of the MONUSCO’s forces in North-Kivu, proves it.”
Chimpreports
Leave a Reply