The Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s army has announced the start of a disarmament push against a militia linked to Rwanda\u2019s 1994 genocide, in what would be a key step towards implementing \u200ba U.S.-brokered peace deal with neighbouring Rwanda.<\/p>\n
The move to disarm the Democratic \u200cForces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) comes two weeks after Congolese and Rwandan officials\u00a0met in Washington\u00a0to agree steps to revive the agreement\u00a0signed last June, and just weeks after the U.S.\u00a0sanctioned\u00a0Rwanda’s defence \u200bforces over their backing of the M23 rebel movement.<\/p>\n
The FDLR is a \u200bCongo-based armed group that includes remnants of Rwanda’s former army and \u2060militias responsible for the 1994 genocide. Rwanda has long demanded that Congo neutralise the \u200bgroup as a condition for any lasting peace.<\/p>\n
Lieutenant General Nduru Jacques Ychaligonza, deputy chief \u200bof staff of the Congolese armed forces (FARDC), told reporters on Sunday that he had been dispatched to the northeastern city of Kisangani to launch preparations for operations targeting FDLR.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey must hand over their \u200bweapons, willingly or by force,\u201d Ychaligonza said, adding that the first phase would \u200bfocus on persuading fighters to surrender. \u201cWe do not need bloodshed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said a reception site had been \u200cset up \u2060in Kisangani to receive those who lay down their arms and that fighters would eventually be sent to Rwanda.<\/p>\n
Rwanda has long accused Congo of fighting alongside FDLR, while Congo has accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebel movement, which controls large swathes \u200bof territory in eastern \u200bCongo after a \u2060lightning advance last year. Rwanda denies supporting M23.<\/p>\n
The army announcement came as M23 fighters pulled back from at least a dozen \u200bvillages in Lubero territory in North Kivu province over recent \u200bdays, the \u2060Kinshasa-appointed governor of the province said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the rebel group described the movements as routine troop rotation in a post on X on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Congo and Rwanda signed \u2060a peace \u200bagreement in Washington last June, with Congo committing \u200bto dismantle the FDLR and Rwanda committing to disengage its forces, but fighting has continued on several fronts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s army has announced the start of a disarmament push against a militia linked to Rwanda\u2019s 1994 genocide, in what would be a key step towards implementing \u200ba U.S.-brokered peace deal with neighbouring Rwanda. The move to disarm the Democratic \u200cForces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) comes two weeks after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9723,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":16,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","source_name":"Reuters","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2362,1129],"tags":[2444,3016,140],"class_list":["post-20322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-central-africa","category-featured","category-security","tag-democratic-forces-for-the-liberation-of-rwanda-fdlr","tag-democratic-republic-of-congo-drc","tag-rwanda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20323,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20322\/revisions\/20323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}