|
RAPAPORT... A United Nations (UN) envoy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reiterated its determination to help restore the state's authority in the eastern region of the diamond-rich country.
During the past year, the Mouvement du 23-Mars (M23), along with other armed groups, have clashed repeatedly with national forces (FARDC) in the eastern DRC. The rebels briefly occupied Goma in November and then backed down, but fighting resumed again in recent weeks, this time involving a group of Ugandan-based rebels and they displaced more than 100,000 people. The eastern DRC already has an ongoing humanitarian crisis, which includes 2.6 million internally displaced people and 6.4 million in need of food and emergency aid, according to the UN Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO).
“I shall do everything in my power to address the armed groups’ issue in the Kivus and in the rest of the eastern DRC,” said the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the DRC, Martin Kobler, who just ended a three-day visit to North Kivu, his first since he was appointed in June.
In Goma, Kobler met with provincial administrative and security authorities, as well as UN military and civilian staff, to assess the situation on the ground. Kobler met with the provincial governor and the speaker of the provincial Assembly, with whom he discussed their expectations about the work of MONUSCO and the Force Intervention Brigade in the North Kivu province.
|