Martin Kobler: “Operations against FDLR will be complicated but not impossible”

29 Jan 2015

Martin Kobler: “Operations against FDLR will be complicated but not impossible”


Goma 28 January 2015. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the DRC, Martin Kobler arrived in Goma, the capital of the North-Kivu province in the morning. Immediately after arriving, the chief of MONUSCO, assisted by his Deputy-Special representative for the operations in eastern DRC, General Abdallah Wafy attended MONUSCO weekly press conference through a video conference organized from Kinshasa.

During the press conference, both UN senior members provided journalists with the necessary clarifications on MONUSCO’s position on the recent political events in DRC, more particularly the violence caused by the revision of the electoral law by the Congolese parliament last week. Martin Kobler and General Wafy declared that MONUSCO’s position is also shared by the UN Secretary-General and his special envoys to the Great Lakes region, appealing both to the majority and the opposition to pursue their political goals by using non-violent means and in compliance with the national legislation.

They also recalled that the freedom of communication and expression are fundamental rights in democracy and should not be violated. With regard to FDLR’s hunt down, the deadline having expired on 2 January 2015, Mr. Kobler highlighted that the operations would start any time soon and declared himself fully confident as to their implementation. “The operations against FDLR will arguably be much complicated but not impossible” said Mr. Kobler, further indicating in this regard that he will be travelling Thursday to Addis-Ababa in Ethiopia to attend, as an observer, the summit of heads of state of the African Union. In Addis-Ababa, they will have the opportunity to discuss with the African leaders attending the summit, he underscored.

Sy Koumbo