Volatile situation in the DRC: National Defense Minister audition by the National Assembly's Defense and Security Committee 22/05/2020

The National Assembly is waiting to act within the limits of its prerogatives to propose ways of exit to the great security discomfort in several provinces of the country.
To do this, the Defense and Security Committee gets the necessary information from the Minister of Defense before offering effective actions to the government.
This exchange concerns the volatile situation in Upper Katanga in North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri as well as in the provinces of Haut-Uélé and Tanganyika. The CODECO in Ituri goes after the harmless civilians killing hundreds of deaths, in the province of Tanganyika, the Zambian troops operate illegally in Congolese territory.
In Lubumbashi, urban crime has risen a notch. The proposals must be strong in such a way as to give Congolese security forces new strategies to end the ordeal imposed on Congolese citizens by armed groups:
" Hearing of the Minister of National Defence on: " The situation of insecurity and tensions in the provinces of Upper Katanga, North and South Kivu, Ituri, Haut-Uele and Tanganyika ". Proposals for action more effective @FARDC_ ' says Patrick Muyaya National Member of the Defense and Security Committee.
It should be noted that the same committee heard Wednesday the Minister of the Interior on the same issue.

Joseph kony's LRA is surfaces in systematic looting and kidnapping more than 50 people in Bondo .

At least fifty-five (55) people were victims of a Kidnapping during the multiple assaults of the Lord's Armed Forces Lord's resistance army, between 18 and 19 May, in the communities  of Baye, in the territory of Bondo in the province of Lower Uelé.
According to consistent sources mentioned by Radio Okapi, among the abducted persons include 20 women and 3 children.
In their assaults, rebels identified in the LRA group of Joseph Kony have systematically looted the property of the peaceful population, including food, cattle and others.
Contact, the local leader of Bili is in line with the news at UN Radio and calls for the strengthening of military teams.
" In the village of Baye, for example, as a Gulumbe group, the elements of the LRA killed a motorcycle-taxi driver and took his motorcycle away." he regrets.
However, Valentin Senga, governor of the province of Lower Uelé, says 5 people out of the hostages have already been released.
The boss of the lower-Uelé executive still calls on the central government to pay attention to this border part with the Central African Republic in order to ensure the security of its court.
Almost two years later, the LRA, an armed movement of rebel leader Joseph Kony, surfaced in this part of the DRC.
This Ugandan Rebels has been the perpetrators of several barbaric abuses in the Lower Uelé.

Self-proclaimed General Major Maheshe Simba Wa Nkutu, rebel leader of the Mai-Mai Mulangane forces for the defense of the people (FMMDP) handed 20weapons and hundreds of his soldiers to DRC government Wednesday, May 2020, 20 in the territory of Kabare in South Kivu.

In the presence of the provincial and custom authorities, he went with a hundred of his men and handed over 20 weapons and several ammunition.
According to local civil society, this rebel leader who was living in ore mining areas in Bunyakiri, Mulambula and in the plain of the Ruzizi, justifies his surrender by the concern of peace.
Self-proclaimed General Major Maheshe Simba says that he has decided to leave the bush in order to answer the call of the head of state Félix Tshisekedi.
" We dropped the weapons to choose the path of peace and respond to the call of the head of state. We call on other rebel groups to drop the weapons ", he said.
Lwabanji Lwasingabo, provincial minister in charge of interior and security, who participated in this surrender ceremony, confirms this information and says that the rebels who surrender choose the path to peace.
He says that the report of this surrender will be sent to the provincial governor before this rebel leader's next arrival in Bukavu.
It should be remembered that more than 30 Raiya Mutomboki also visited the territory headquaters of Kalehe in South Kivu in bid to drop down their weapons.

A citizen movement activist Lucha has been killed by police this Thursday, May 21 in Beni (North Kivu) during a protest against insecurity.

The fact happened in Kalinda neighborhood, in the municipality, where law enforcement violently repressed the protest. The victim was shot in the head.
About twenty militants are arrested by the police.
According to a standing report now,Economic activities are paralysed within beni town. The day before, Lucha called on the population to observe a dead city day this Thursday to address the re-emergence of insecurity in the city. This was after the killing of a civilians by armed men in the Butsili neighborhood, in the same commune Mulekera.
Meanwhile, in the territory of Beni also the attacks of the ADF fighters are increasing. There are at least 34 people killed last week during incursions around the city of Oicha.

Russia's state intermediary agency for defence exports, Rosoboronexport (part of Rostec Corporation), said on Thursday it was ready to sell abroad a new radar locator, capable of detecting hypersonic targets.

Russia's state intermediary agency for defence exports, Rosoboronexport (part of Rostec Corporation), said today,Thursday 21/05/2020 that it was ready to sell abroad a new radar locator, capable of detecting hypersonic targets.
"Today, Rosoboronexport launches to the [international] market a new radar locator, capable of efficiently detecting a wide range of modern and prospective air targets, including hypersonic targets," Rosoboronexport Director General Alexander Mikheev said, as quoted by his press service.
Mikheev expressed the belief that the radar locator would be in demand in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and North Africa.
Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport showcased its newest radar, which can easily detect a wide range of aerial objects, including hypersonic Targets
Last week, President Donald Trump announced that the US is developing a state-of-the-art hypersonic missile that he stressed should be superior to those currently created by Russia and China.
Earlier, the US administration requested at least $3.2 billion in funding for hypersonic weapons development programmes in the next fiscal year, an increase of almost $500 million from 2020.
This came as the US withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) Treaty in August 2019 after formally suspending its INF obligations in February that year and triggering a six-month withdrawal process.

Eastern DRC's security still in a danger especially in KIVU and ITURI

On the security level, the DRC is still in a tragic situation. As we have been monitoring new tensions DRC has with Zambia at the common border level,the confusion in minembwe, various chaos in the Kivu and ITURI, it is a confusing security situation in the eastern part of the country.
Indeed, reflecting the fact that though the CSG has been constantly denounced for years, the Congo Study Group through the voice of its Director, researcher Jason Stearns, said he had " received reports from the different  focal points that we have on the ground and our interlocutors in civil society who notified a presence of the Rwandan military ". This presence is a violation of international law and is done with the tactic agreement of Mr. Felix Tshisekedi who seems to have given a white card informally to the Kigali regime to carry out his various projects on Congolese soil. If these recent incursions are in addition to a long list of violations that began in the 1990 s (see report mapping), they must not avoid the issue of Congolese army infiltration. Interviewed by RFI on 17 April 2020, a member of the civil society of North Kivu noted: "They are Rwandans in the night and present themselves as FARDC units the during daylight".
These facts are all the more serious as they take place in the context of increasing tensions between Burundi and Rwanda on one side and Uganda and Rwanda on the other. This is how the DRC is once again at risk of being the theatre of power wars that does not concern it. This fear was shared in a report by the International Crisis Group. It's President, Martin Fayulu, also expressed his fear in a tweet where he says: " The DRC must no longer be the playground of some surrounding countries.
Those who feel threatened must hold talks with their rebels at home. The blood of the Congolese can no longer continue to flow because of imported conflicts. We have the right to peace." On April 24, a deadly attack carried out by foreign elements in Virunga Park confirmed these fears. Until the DRC is led by responsible, legitimately elected patriots who are not bound by opaque and cloudy commitments, there will be no outcome of the security crisis in the eastern part of the country.

The European Union does not rule out proceedings against the perpetrators of human rights violations in eastern DRC

The European Union does not rule out taking adequate measures against persons, groups or organizations that contribute through their actions to harm the preservation of peace or serious human rights violations in Ituri province , east of the DRC.
This is the statement content made on Wednesday, May 20th by High Representative / Vice-President of the European Union.
" The province of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been hit for several weeks by an intensification of almost daily attacks against the civil population can be read in the EU statement.
Since the beginning of the year, nearly 300 people have been killed and more than 200 people have fled the atrocities.
These barbaric acts must stop. It is up to the Congolese authorities and the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) to put an end to the actions of the CODECO army and to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice. No sense of impunity can prevail. It is also essential to take dialogue first and fight against any use of identity.
What is happening in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo cannot become a forgotten crisis; and efforts to put an end to insecurity in this region must be accelerated.
The European Union stands ready to support the efforts of the Congolese authorities in this regard, in coordination with its partners.