African Union officials discussed sending troops to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to forcibly disarm thousands of Rwandans linked to their country’s 1994 genocide.
At a two-day meeting that began on Tuesday, officials were considering three options for disarming an estimated 10 000 to 14 000 Rwandan rebels in the DRC.
African could work alone or tackle the rebels with the help of United Nations peacekeepers who are already in the DRC or with Congolese forces.
”Short of nothing is being done and there is no other option than to make a forceful disarmament of the” rebels, said AU’s Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit.
”Africa is ready to provide troops for that forceful disarmament. But we don’t want to intervene in isolation of all the existing efforts.”
The presence of Rwandan rebels in eastern DRC has helped spark and fuelled years of warfare in the vast central African nation.
The rebels, who include members of the former army and extremist Interahamwe militia from the Hutu ethnic majority, fled to the DRC after leading the genocide of at least 500 000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus. They then attempted to invade Rwanda in a bid to regain power.
Rwanda has invaded the DRC twice in the last decade. About 13 775 UN peacekeepers are also deployed in the DRC, mainly in eastern provinces bordering Rwanda, with a mandate to bolster security.
The rebels operate from remote forest camps in lawless eastern DRC, where the central government is struggling to exert its authority. Some have voluntarily disarmed, but thousands remain — and Rwanda has hinted it may take renewed military action against them.
”We are talking about essentially addressing the problem on the ground and also the issue of impunity” for at least 14 senior rebel leaders wanted by a UN tribunal to face charges related to the genocide, Djinnit said during a break from the meeting.
The meeting is also attended by representatives of the UN mission in the DRC, its refugee agency, the European Union and officials from Rwanda, the DRC and Burundi.
Both DRC’s President Joseph Kabila and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame have agreed to allow the African Union to coordinate any new operation involving African Union troops. – Sapa-AP