Rwanda piles pressure on MONUSCO over FDLR

President Kagame speaks to UN chief Ban ki-moon in New York at an earlier event. Extreme left is UN peacekeeping chief Hervé Ladsous, France’s envoy at UN during the genocide against Tutsis in 1994

The UN peace keeping mission in DR Congo is coming under sustained pressure from Rwanda which accuses the 22,000 strong force of looking away as Rwandan rebels roam Congo’s jungles – and planning to attack Rwanda.

Rwanda’s envoy at the UN Eugene Richard Gasana has this week forcefully fired at the agency following the end of M23 rebel group which declared end to its rebellion. UN bureaucrats had put all their hope in the so called intervention brigade which fought alongside the Congolese army FARDC.

Today Friday at a UN Security Council session on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) initiative, Gasana said it should not be held hostage of political interests of the Council’s permanent members. He was referring to the United States, UK, China, Russia and France.

“…we once again call upon permanent members to refrain from using the veto, especially in case of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said Gasana. “It is unfortunate that perpetrators of the genocide in Rwanda, the FDLR, are still roaming freely in the east of the DR Congo.”

Rwanda’s diplomat says the Security Council has never held MONUSCO accountable, allowing the massively funded mission to do as it pleases including cases when it has not done anything on Rwandan FDLR militia group for past 13years.

According to the reviewed mandate, MONUSCO should begin targeting the FDLR to urge it demobilize and repatriate back home, or be forced to surrender, after the end of the M23. But there is growing skepticism in the region that MONUSCO could do anything of the kind.

The body said this week that it would begin deploying heavily along Rwanda’s border to prevent any FDLR entering into Rwanda with arms, a position that has been received with mixed feelings in Kigali. There are reports that thousands of FDLR have been fighting alongside FARDC, and have been given safe passage to Virunga Park as they prepare offensive on Rwanda.

Meanwhile, in Kigali, and through Gasana, government has warned that it would respond with “lethal force” should its territory be attacked from DR Congo.

The UN peacekeeping department has come under scrutiny as well due to the man heading it, Frenchman Hervé Ladsous. He was France’s UN envoy during the genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda. Observers say the adamancy with which he handled the Rwanda file, pushing away world attention which prevented intervention, is the same attitude he still maintains.

Critics have charged that the sole reason the intervention brigade was put in place was so France – through their son at the UN would be able to monitor Rwanda’s activities.