07 11 13 AP: Congo UN chief salutes army for defeating rebels

 

During a press conference
Wednesday, Martin Kobler said the army had complete control over all territory
formerly held by M23, which has been blamed for killing scores of civilians in
eastern Congo over the last year and a half.

Kobler stressed that
"the political problem is not resolved" and called for a resumption
of dialogue.

M23 announced Tuesday that
it was ending its rebellion after the Congolese army, backed by U.N. forces,
stepped up its offensive against the rebels last month after peace talks
repeatedly stalled.

After having defeated the M23 rebels, Congolese government soldiers and
United Nations troops now will turn their attention to other armed groups who
attack civilians, the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the central
African country said Wednesday.

Martin Kobler said the Congolese army now has control over all the
territory that had been held by the M23, whose rebellion began in mineral-rich
eastern Congo
19 months ago. On Tuesday, soldiers recaptured the last two hills and M23's
president released a statement declaring an end to its armed struggle.

The demise of M23, though, still leaves a myriad of armed groups blamed
for killing and raping civilians in eastern Congo, which has been wracked by
violence for nearly two decades.

"Armed groups should know that we're not going to leave a void. We
are going to respond with force against all threats to the civilian
population," Kobler said.

The greatest remaining menace comes from the FDLR, a group led by
Rwandan Hutus who helped commit the 1994 genocide and later escaped to Congo,
prompting a series of Tutsi rebellions including the latest one by M23.

While the FDLR has weakened in recent years, analysts say it is still
well entrenched and its presence in eastern Congo is a reason many of the other
armed groups say they exist.

M23's promise to end its rebellion "signals an important
milestone," said Tariq Riebl, Oxfam's humanitarian coordinator for Congo, who
agreed that attention must now shift to other threats.

"The demise of one group doesn't spell the end of conflict in the
country's east," he said.

"Now, more than ever, the Congolese government and international
community must take steps to ensure that other groups don't move in to fill the
space left by the disbanding of M23."

Meanwhile, the governor of North Kivu
province said Wednesday that authorities had found a large stash of weapons in
Chanzu, one of the last M23 rebel strongholds now again controlled by
government forces. Some 300 tons of heavy weaponry were found including
"types of weapons that are not in our armament," said Gov. Julien
Paluku.

Congo's
government and a U.N. group of experts have long said neighboring Rwanda has
provided weapons and other support to M23, a claim the Rwandan government
denies.

Even as the Congolese military celebrated its victory, attention began
shifting to the tasks now ahead to secure the peace.

Among the remaining issues is the question of amnesty for M23 fighters
and whether some will be integrated into the national army. Kobler, however,
said "we have a very clear opinion that amnesty will not be granted to
those who have committed serious abuses including war crimes and rape."

It also remains to be seen how much sway M23's military command still
has over its rebels and whether they all will abide by the order to lay down
their arms, said Timo Mueller, a Goma-based researcher with the Enough Project,
an advocacy group active in eastern Congo.

"M23 soldiers need to disarm and to disarm they need security
guarantees," he said. "It's important that the army does not resort
to revenge killings and also the wider Tutsi community has to be
protected."

Without full disarmament, there is a risk that the M23 could simply
return with the same members only in another shape or form. The M23 itself
emerged in April 2012 in
the wake of another defunct Tutsi rebellion known as the CNDP.

By November 2012, they swept into Goma and briefly held the city of 1
million people, only to retreat under international pressure.

In the aftermath of the Goma siege, internal divisions mounted within
M23. The group was substantially weakened after its leader, Bosco Ntaganda,
turned himself in to face charges at the International Criminal Court earlier
this year.

Contributing to the defeat of the M23 rebels was that the Congolese army
had a new leader and was a stronger, more competent force that received
logistical support from U.N. forces with stronger rules of engagement, analysts
said. They added that aid from Rwanda
had substantially diminished during this latest round of clashes.

Human Rights Watch has accused the M23 fighters of killing scores of
civilians and forcibly recruiting child soldiers, among other abuses. Many of
the group's leaders are believed to have fled into neighboring Uganda and Rwanda.