This sentiment was expressed by MONUSCO Force Commander on the eve of his departure from the DRC and Goma, where he established the Force headquarters upon arriving in June 2013; attributing over thirty per cent of his citizenship to Brazil, his home land and the remaining thirty percent to Haiti, where he had served as commander of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), from January 2007 to April 2009.

Humanist and modest

The General’s personal skills are unanimously acknowledged by his entourage made up of the staff under his command, civilian colleagues in the Mission, Congolese staff as well as the local population in Goma who used to meet him every morning when jogging in the streets of Goma.

So, on 12 November, the 60-year-old General Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz with over 40 years of military experience was decorated by a Tanzanian private from Beni where he sustained injury – quite unusual in the history of DPKO and worth highlighting – along with 56 officers and non-commissioned officers of the Mission’s Force.

“In two years and a half, the General has made a huge contribution in making the Force and the Intervention Brigade under his authority effectively operational; his steady commitment to enhance trust between MONUSCO and FARDC is an asset on which future victories against negative forces shall build”, confirmed his troops.

The troops also lay a special emphasis on his empathy in favor of the Congolese people: “The populations we are called upon to serve not only need our assistance, but also respect, dedication and love”, recalled the General.

The General will ever be remembered for his personal achievements.

For the generations to come, General Dos Santos Cruz remains the hero who provided decisive support to the Congolese army – late General Lucien Bahuma, chief of the army staff in North Kivu and Colonel Mamadou Ndala, his operations commander – during the October-November 2013 campaign against the M23 rebel movement.

He made the decision to use heavy artillery to defeat the M 23 and flash them out of the Nyiragongo and Rutshuru areas; which reduce them to near-negligible entity.

He also pushed for the construction of the Sake-Pinga road to support FARDC’s operations, to facilitate the return of roughly 100,000 villagers to the areas situated along the road axis Mbau-Kamango, in spite of the presence of the ADF negative forces.

At last, the startling development of Goma, a city “likely to become a development pole, and for the whole of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which may become a strong and powerful nation. This will be achieved sooner or later; nothing can stop this from materializing” said the General when departing from DRC; he wished good luck to all the peace-loving partners operating in DRC and called upon his successor to further assist the most vulnerable people of the DRC, “the only motivation that brought him to the DRC”.

General Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz is returning to his homeland, Brazil, to join his family; he is married; he has three children and three grand-children.

Fathya Waberi