The United Nations Security Council had on Tuesday, penalised six people from five armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as bloody conflict heightens in the regions between the Congolese army and the Rwandan-supported M23 Tutsi-led rebels.
The conflict, in a war that has lasted many years, has intensified the risk of an all-out conflict between Congo and Rwanda that could involve neighbors and regional forces including South Africa, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi.
“The United States is backing the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC and lasting peace for all Congolese people. Rwanda and the DRC must take steps back from the brink of war,” the Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Robert Wood said during a meeting of the 15-member Security Council on Tuesday.
Recall that the Security Council’s DRC sanctions committee levied an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze on two leaders with the Allied Democratic Forces -ADF (one leader from the Twirwaneho armed group and one from the National People’s Coalition for the Sovereignty of Congo –CNPSC rebels).
Additionally, the military spokesperson for the Rwandan-backed M23 Tutsi-led rebels and a leader with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) –which was founded by Hutus who fled Rwanda after taking part in the 1994 genocide of over 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus– were added to the U.N. list.
A U.N. peacekeeping force, called the MONUSCO, has been stationed in Congo for over 13 years after taking over from an earlier U.N. operation in 2010 to aid in diffusing insecurity in the east of the Central African country.
The U.N. Security Council approved the end of the mission in December after a request by Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi in September to speed up the withdrawal of the peacekeepers.
