The United Nations representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Wednesday (September 2nd) refused the prior amnesty and the integration into the regular army of armed groups to establish peace and stability in the east of the country.
"
We must not grant amnesty,
" said Leïla Zerrougui, interviewed at a press conference on the failures of so-called "
DDR
" programs (disarmament, demobilization, reintegration) of combatants from rebel groups in the DRC.
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"
Amnesty is to say that the facts never existed
", continued the Algerian diplomat, recalling her past as a magistrate.
"
Did you see how they cut people to pieces in the villages?"
», She added, in an allusion to the massacres attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in North Kivu or Codeco (Cooperative for the development of Congo) in Ituri.
"
And what to do with the victims?
», She added.
"
People who commit serious crimes must answer for their actions
."
“
We can forgive.
Society can decide it
", she specified, insisting:"
There must be a form of justice.
".
Dozens of armed groups, Congolese but also of Ugandan, Rwandan or Burundian origin, threaten civilians in the three eastern provinces (Ituri, North and South Kivu).
Just a year ago, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, visiting Goma, invited armed groups to lay down their arms, relaying a request from President Felix Tshisekedi to armed groups.
Their surrender is however complicated by the lack of resources of the authorities.
"
The Congolese government does not have any serious DDR program to accompany the call of the Head of State to the various armed groups,
" lamented the former M23 rebellion in a statement on August 29.
Ms. Zerrougui denounced the warlords who claim to defend their community but think "
only of the amnesty and the rank
" that they hope to obtain in the regular army in exchange for their demobilization.
“
We cannot continue to reward the killers.
Crime should not be rewarded
, ”she said.
"
We must stop this systematic integration into the army and this distribution of ranks,
" she continued.
This procedure has existed in the past to reinstate former militiamen.
The UN Mission has been present in the DRC for 20 years.
