Kinshasa June 10, 2009 - The Special Representative of the Secretary General to the DRC, Alan Doss participated today in MONUC weekly press conference. He summed up his 3 day visit, the last weekend, to the provinces of North and South Kivu. During his visits, he and a senior Congolese civilian officials and military officers conducted an evaluation of Operation Kimia II against the FDLR and measures to protect civilians. Mr.Doss provided an overview of MONUC/FARDC cooperation on the ongoing military campaign against the FDLR. Excerpts.
"The DRC Defense Minister and the FARDC high command, MONUC Force Commander and I seized this opportunity to review the results achieved up to this point, to discuss our concerns and the measures needed to overcome challenges and to clarify the way forward".
"We examined the operations jointly planed and executed in the framework of Kimia II, as well as the deployments and other actions that FARDC and MONUC actions to improve the protection of the civilians. This exchange allowed us to identify our weakness but also to define the conditions for success".
"Kimia II is a military campaign that has three main objectives: to protect the population; to put an end to the threat of the FDLR by persuading them to disarm and to return to Rwanda; and to re-establish the authority of the Congolese state in the two provinces. This campaign includes a full range of actions that will be both sharply limited in duration or carried out over a long period".
"The FARDC continue to hold the positions that they took from the FDLR and in some places they have advanced further. They have cut off the FDLR’s access to some of it sources of economic support”.
"An important issue that emerged in the course of our working sessions with our Congolese partners is the need to sustain the efforts of the Government and the command of the FARDC command to make the FARDC more effective, to reinforce the discipline and moral of the troops and to improve relations with the population".
"A well-organized and supported FARDC that behave professionally and that enjoy the support of the population, are the key to stabilization of the East."
“There are problems of integration related tothe number of the elements involved. When you undertake to integrate 15,000 or 20,000 elements in two weeks this would pose problems for any army. Integration is limited at several levels, and it is also true that you can’t build a team spirit in a few weeks".
"We addressed the MONUC’s support to the FARDC in three main areas: logistics, technical and operational and we recognized that MONUC must also demonstrate creativity and flexibility in order to provide the maximum support to the FARDC”.