The weapons were handed over by Hevé Hesse, MONUC’s head of DDRRR operations to FARDC Major General Amuli, commander of Kimia II operations in eastern DRC and General Mayala, FARDC commander of the 8th military region.

The weapons were handed over in an official ceremony attended by the chief coordinator of the KIMia II operations, FARDC officers, the head of defence and security commission for the provincial Assembly, the chief of MONUC’s Eastern coordination Alpha Sow and the interim chief of MONUC’s Goma office Henrick Bruyn.

For Major General Amuli, the handover of the weapons “is a clear indication of the international community’s determination to restore peace to the DRC, and MONUC’s resolve to contribute to any effort to make the population in the east secure. We salute its determination to back the FARDC’s fight against the FDLR.”

MONUC has collected at least 4,000 small weapons and a hundred rockets from Congolese armed groups since 2007, which have been handed over to the FARDC.