16 Oct 2009

The United Nations should continue its support for the Congolese government despite reports of killings and rapes by government troops, UN special envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo says.

Rejecting suggestions that the world body should withdraw its support, Alan Doss told a UN Security Council meeting on Congo on Friday that pressure on FDLR anti-government rebels (Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) should not stop under any condition as they (rebels) will gain time to "regroup and rearm".

A UN-backed Congolese army operation, launched in January, dubbed Kimia 2 was severely criticized by the UN rapporteur, Philip Alston, who labeled it "catastrophic" in terms of human rights and said that it had been hampered "by a lack of planning, coordination and cooperation".

The disarmament of some 1,000 of an estimated 6,000 rebels in eastern Congo has come at a cost of nearly 900,000 people displaced, 1,000 dead civilians and 7,000 rapes of women and girls, humanitarian and rights groups say.

Government forces are fighting Rwandan Hutu rebels, who are said to be responsible for the last 15 years of violence in Central Africa.

Doss said suspending the ongoing offensive "would be celebrated as a victory by the FDLR" and would undermine the Congolese army and "paradoxically further weaken discipline."

Again, he said, reducing the pressure would also make it more difficult for Kinshasa "to impose state authority and prevent the re-emergence of other armed groups who might well draw the conclusion that attacks against civilians will force the government to give in to their demands".

presstv