Congo-Kinshasa: The Surrender of the FDLR, Three Months Later the Results are Still Mixed

La question des rebelles hutus rwandais est de nouveau au centre des discussions dans la région des Grands Lacs. Lundi 20 octobre, la communauté de développement d'Afrique australe et la conférence internationale pour la région des Grands Lacs se sont réunies en Angola pour faire le point sur le désarmement des Forces de libération démocratiques du Rwanda (FDLR), ce groupe rebelle toujours actif dans l'est de la RDC depuis 20 ans.

Questions surrounding Rwandan Hutu rebels are once again at the center of discussion on the Great Lakes region.  On Monday October 20th, the Southern African Development Community (SADC )and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) met in Angola to take stock of the disarmament of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the rebel group that has been active in the eastern part of the DRC for twenty years.

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Last end of May the FDLR had said that they would voluntarily disarm.  But given the lack of progress the group had made in doing so by the end of July, the countries of the region have given them until January 2nd to put down their weapons.  Three months after this extension, the time has come assess the progress the FDLR has made towards surrender.

First Observation: "The FDLR has not made any progress in the area of disarmament."  In three months no new steps towards surrender have taken place.  SADC urged the 16 countries that make up Southern Africa and the Great Lakes Region to note the lack of progress and to remember deadlines.   All of the representatives present at the meeting then agreed that any FDLR members than had not disarmed by the January 2nd deadline would face a military offensive.

ICGLR and SADC members have called on the UN mission to Congo to ensure that those FDLR members who wish to disarm willingly, in the three months before the deadline, are granted the opportunity to do so in favorable conditions.  This is one way to show wary FDLR members that their security will in fact be protected during their stay in the disarmament camps.

Finally and three months before the end of this process of voluntary surrender, SADC and the ICGLR's   demands of the FDLR remain both vague and clement.  To be sure, the most important part of this process has not been touched on: by what criterion will the disarmament process be measured?  How many men need to disarm and to what extent?  These are questions people might ask themselves on January 2, 2015.  Lastly, the statement that came out from the meeting did not say that a political dialogue will follow the surrender of the FDLR — something the group has been asking for.

This article was translated by Matthew LaLime, Staff Intern with the Africa Program at the Wilson Center. 

Photo courtesy of United Nations Photo via Flickr Commons