MONUSCO chief lauds DRC-Rwanda peace deal

The Head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), Bintou Keita, on Friday told the Security Council that “the signing this afternoon in Washington by the ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and of Rwanda of the draft peace agreement is a major step forward towards the end of the conflict.”

Keita welcomes “the tireless efforts made by the United States in facilitating this agreement, which marks a decisive step towards peace and stability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in the region of the Great Lakes.”

She told the Council that her recent visit to the Eastern DRC had the goal of boosting their morale of MONUSCO’s personnel “after a very difficult time,” as well as to “engage the AFC M23 on operational challenges related to the implementation of our mandate.

Keita said she was “encouraged by progress made to reach a political solution to the recurring cycles of conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo,” and stressed that “MONUSCO continues to stand ready to support these efforts sustained by the decision and the will of this Council.”

United States Ambassador Dorothy Shea told the Council that the peace agreement was “based on mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, human rights, and international humanitarian law, and founded on the prospect of shared prosperity through regional economic integration.”

She said the signing of the agreement was “a major accomplishment” as “it supports African led processes and represents an historic step towards securing durable peace in eastern DRC and creating the conditions for economic development for the benefit of the people in the region.”

The representative of the DRC, Hippolyte Kingonzila Mfulu, told the Council that the security situation in the eastern DRC “remains characterized by the continuation of the Rwandan aggression” as “troops deployed in support of the AFC / M23 elements continues to be illustrated by the massacres of civilians, the raping of women and young girls, forced recruitment of young boys and other violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.”

Kingonzila Mfulu told the Council that in the agreement, “Rwanda commits to withdrawing unconditionally all of its troops from DRC's territory” and said, “we hope that this time the United States of America, responsible for mediation, will be able to impose sanctions on Rwanda commensurate with their misconduct if they again fail to comply.”

Rwandan Ambassador Martin Ngoga for his part said, “while there is still some way to go, the path to lasting peace in the Great Lakes region is clear now than it has ever been before. An important part of today's agreement is the provision for the parties to form a standing joint security coordination mechanism, whose first order of business will be to oversee the implementation of the concept of operations for the neutralization of FDR and the lifting of Rwanda's defensive measures, as approved under the Rwanda process in November last year.”

Ngoga said, “the defensive measures are directly linked to a specific threat that is well known to this Council, and that is the FDR, remnants of the forces that committed the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, and that continues to pursue the genocidal intent and ideology.”

He called on MONUSCO to “tone down their rhetoric and end the public attacks and instead focus on working and engaging in supporting the fragile but credible diplomatic initiatives underway” and said, “Rwanda remains convinced that the negotiated political solution is the only responsible and viable path. Particularly in light of the history of the Great Lakes region.”