The UN mission chief in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday warned the last remaining rebel group in the east to lay down arms or face military action. The FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu militia that includes perpetrators of the 1994 genocide of Tutsis, has been given a six-month deadline to disarm and to hand over those wanted for war crimes, Martin Kobler told the UN Security Council.
"To the FDLR: Seize this last opportunity and move forward with this process. All combatants, including leaders, must disarm now," said Kobler. "I suggest joint military actions against those FDLR factions not willing to disarm." Disarming the FDLR, of which only 1,500 combatants remain, took on added urgency following the defeat of the mainly Tutsi M23 rebels in the eastern DR Congo late last year.
FDLR military commander Sylvestre Mudacumura is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, including torture, in connection with a murderous rampage in North and South Kivu in 2009 and 2010. In May, the Kinshasa government presented a plan to resettle the remaining FDLR fighters outside the country, giving them 22 days to turn up at two camps from where they were to be taken to a third site for their relocation. A total of 186 combatants and 430 dependants took the government's offer but the plan has since stalled.
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