United Nations urged to ‘neutralise’ rebels

CONGO: The government has called on United Nations peacekeepers to “neutralise” a new rebel movement that helped carry out Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

Foreign minister Raymond Tshibanda N’tunga Mulongo also asked the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on high-ranking Rwandan officials accused of helping to create, arm and support the new M23 rebels in Congo.

Mulongo, left, spoke after discussions last week with the Security Council. Rwanda’s foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo, who has vehemently denied the accusations, was also at UN headquarters.

Congo’s mineral-rich east is facing the worst upsurge in fighting in years, which has forced some 280,000 people from their homes.

The fighting escalated in April when army deserters calling themselves the M23 Movement launched a rebellion to demand better pay, better armaments and amnesty from war crimes.