FN: Slut med snak i østlige DR Congo – nedlæg våbnene ellers…

Goma is calm, but civilians, aid agencies and NGOs wait nervously as the UN’s first ever “offensive” peacekeeping force prepares to fully deploy.

“In North Kivu, MONUSCO [the UN Stabilization Mission in DR Congo] considers any individuals who are not members of the national security forces and who carry a firearm in Goma and its northern suburbs an imminent threat to civilians and will disarm them in order to enforce a security zone to protect the densely populated area of Goma and Sake,” MONUSCO said on 30 July.

The statement added, that the operation to enforce the security zone would, for the first time, involve its UN Force Intervention Brigade (FIB), a 3.000-strong international force mandated to “neutralize… and disarm” all armed groups in eastern DR Congo.

According to MONUSCO, about 75 percent of FIB’s troops – from Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania – are already on the ground; the brigade “will carry out targeted offensive operations in support of the Congolese army or unilaterally”.

The brigade’s commanding officer, Brig-Gen James Mwakibolwa of Tanzania, gave assurances that “Goma will never fall again as long as the FIB is on the ground. That is the reason why the brigade is doing all in its powers through patrols to protect Goma and its environs.”

One of the first targets of the FIB is likely to be the rebel M23, mutineers who have been fighting the Congolese army, FARDC, since April 2012.

Since 14 July, FARDC and M23 have been fighting around Mutaho, Kibati and Munigi, on the outskirts of Goma.

Already hundreds of thousands have been displaced in North Kivu and tens of thousands more have fled across the border to Rwanda and Uganda. Humanitarian agencies fear that clashes between FIB and M23 could cause further civilian suffering.

Proceed with caution