29 11 12 Security Council extends sanctions on DR Congo rebels, condemns latest attacks by M23

In a
unanimously adopted resolution, the Council extended until 1 February 2014, the
sanctions that were first introduced in 2003 as the DRC reached the end of a
brutal civil war that engulfed the vast country on and off for five years and is
estimated to have killed as many as five million
people.

The
sanctions comprise an arms embargo against armed groups that are not part of the
Government’s integrated army or police units following the end of the civil war,
and also a travel ban and asset freeze against individuals or entities that have
violated the embargo or are otherwise designated.

The Council
also requested Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to renew the
mandate of the group of experts monitoring these measures until 1 February
2014.

The
resolution also contained strong condemnation of the M23 soldiers, who mutinied
from the DRC national army in April, and which occupied Goma, the capital of
North Kivu, last week after launching a new
wave of attacks that have uprooted more than 140,000
civilians.

The Council
demanded that the M23 and other armed groups “cease immediately all forms of
violence and other destabilizing activities” and reiterated its demand that any
and all outside support to the M23 stop without
delay.

It also
expressed its intention to consider additional targeted sanctions against the
M23 leadership, those providing external support to the group, and those who
violate the sanctions regime and the arms embargo.

Last night
the Council was briefed in a closed-door session by Chef de Cabinet Susana
Malcorra and Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous
on the latest developments in eastern DRC.

Mr. Ban
sent Ms. Malcorra to the region last week as his personal emissary to maintain
contact and dialogue with key actors. With the agreement of the leaders of the
DRC, Rwanda and Uganda, she met Sultani Makenga, the head of the M23’s military
wing, to convey the Secretary-General’s concerns about the deteriorating
humanitarian situation as well as reported human rights violations. She
encouraged him to stop the fighting and pursue his objective through political
dialogue and lay down the arms.

Mr. Ladsous
told reporters after the Council session that there are “indications” that M23
elements were possibly starting to withdraw from Goma, but that these reports
still needed to be confirmed. Meanwhile, the UN Organization Stabilization
Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) is still
in control of the airport in Goma and continues daily patrols throughout the
city.

MONUSCO
reported today that there are signs that the M23 are preparing to withdraw from
Goma, in accordance with terms of the communiqué from the weekend meeting of the
International Conference on the Great Lakes Region
(ICGLR).

“However,
the Mission reports that there is not yet any major movement by M23 out of
Goma,” UN spokesperson Eduardo del Buey told reporters, adding that the
situation in the city is relatively calm.

The UN
today dispatched its chief military adviser, General Babacar Gaye, to the Great
Lakes region to discuss with stakeholders a number of issues that came out of
the recent ICGLR meeting, such as the implementation of the 20-kilometre Neutral
Zone to which the M23 is supposed to withdraw and the concept of the
International Neutral Force.