DRC/RWANDA: FDLR Attacks Villages in North Kivu

Date: 
Monday, February 7, 2011
Source: 
AllAfrica
Countries: 
Africa
Central Africa
Congo (Kinshasa)
Rwanda
PeaceWomen Consolidated Themes: 
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

The UN backed Radio Okapi, which operates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo said, Saturday, that elements of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), from Wednesday to Friday, attacked and looted property from the villages of Mirangi and Busundule, in the Bwito area of DRC's North Kivu province.

According to the report, no people were killed in the attacks that took place at during the nights. It was announced that the FDLR rebels were together with Mai-Mai rebels.

Meanwhile, early last week, the UN news service had revealed that peacekeepers in the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) had prevented FDLR rebels from taking their loot after an attack on the South Kivu town of Mwenga, early Tuesday.

The FDLR, is a terrorist group composed of remnants of the former Rwandan army (ex-FAR) and Interahamwe militia responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. After the genocide, they fled into eastern DRC where they have since wrecked havoc - raping, killing and pillaging innocent civilians.

In early 2009, the Rwandan and Congolese armies, in a joint operation dubbed operation Umoja Wetu carried out successful but short-lived tracking missions in the Congolese jungles that annihilated the rebels' bases and led to the repatriation of hundreds of combatant and their dependants.