(Bloomberg) — The United Nations denied suspending support for an offensive against rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and said it’s still debating what type of assistance it will offer.
A military operation known as Sokola II that officially began on Jan. 29 against the ethnic-Hutu Armed Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda has been delayed and plans have been altered, UN Chief of Mission Martin Kobler said in an interview Wednesday in Kinshasa, Congo’s capital. The offensive was originally set to be a joint operation, before Congolese authorities changed their plans, he said.
The UN mission in Congo, known as Monusco, has continued to express concerns that human-rights violations might occur. Kobler said he and force commander Lt. Gen. Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz had been meeting daily with their Congolese counterparts to discuss what kind of support Monusco will offer.
The UN on Feb. 4 threatened to withdraw its support for the offensive within two weeks unless Congo removed General Bruno Mandevu from the offensive. Mandevu is on a so-called UN Red List related to accusations of 121 rights violations including summary executions and rape. General Fall Sikabwe, who was put in charge of North Kivu province where various rebel groups operate, is also on the list, according to Monusco’s spokesman, Charles Bambara.
The deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Farhan Haq, said Feb. 5 that the appointment of the two Congolese generals to lead operations against the so-called FDLR, was “of grave concern,” according to an e-mailed statement.
“We do not comment on generals,” Kobler said, insisting that it was imperative that the possibility of human-rights violations by any member of the armed forces be prevented.
Congolese military spokesman Olivier Hamuli didn’t answer calls to his phone when Bloomberg News sought comment.
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