DRC’s Deployed Units of FARDC not salaried for Two months

{Soldiers from at least five FARDC units deployed in Beni, Rutshuru and Nyiragongo (North Kivu) have not received their salaries for two months, IGIHE has learned from UN sponsored Radio Okapi from the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. }

Among these units are those engaged in Sokola operation against Ugandan ADF rebels in Beni.

Locals fear that this salary delay may affect the spirits of troops engaged in combat.

The FARDC officials recognize the delay, indicating that it is caused by banks that cannot meet the military on the ground.

Units affected by this delay are the 805th, 809th and 1007th regiments deployed in Beni, where they are involved in the military operation “Sokola.”

The operation, supported by MONUSCO, is to dismantle the Ugandan ADF rebels accused of serious atrocities in this part of eastern DRC.
The command of the 34th military region recognizes this and calls the military’s patience.

Colonel Olivier Hamuli, one of the spokesmen for the Army, said that it is the banks who delay payment of the military:

“There are banks that are unable to pay. Because they are the ones who receive the funds, they meet the military at the frontline. But also there is a kind of unpreparedness of banks that got the money to pay the soldiers. ”