{The Security Council has last week extended the mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) until 31 March 2015.}
Unanimously adopting resolution 2147 (2014), the Council decided that the renewed mandate would also include MONUSCO’s Intervention Brigade — “on an exceptional basis and without creating a precedent or any prejudice” — within the authorized troop ceiling of 19,815 military personnel, 760 military observers and staff officers, 391 police personnel and 1,050 formed police units.
Rwanda’s representative at the United Nation has expressed hope that MONUSCO mandate extension would revive efforts by the Mission and its Intervention Brigade to neutralize the armed groups that sustained the threat against eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and his own country.
He reminded the Security Council that FDLR were under sanctions for having perpetrated the 1994 genocide in his country and continued to promote ethnic-based killings.
The group had destabilized the region for 20 years, and there were ongoing reports of widespread rape, killings and the use of children as soldiers and slaves, he said.
He went on to state that FDLR held hostage those refugees hoping to return to Rwanda, and had recently perpetrated grenade attacks against innocent civilians in public markets and bus stations, mostly in Kigali.
The text adopted by the UNSC expressed concern over the group’s continuing free movement throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he noted, adding that it also reiterated the Council’s commitment to eliminate the threat posed by the “genocidal movement” as part of a comprehensive plan to address and permanently eliminate insecurity.
Rwanda steadfastly supported regional peace, stability and prosperity through its national, bilateral and regional commitments, he emphasized.
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