Beni, 10 July 2013 – General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz, Force Commander for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), along with MONUSCO North Kivu Brigade commander, and Ray Vigilio Torres, MONUSCO Head of Office in North Kivu, travelled to Beni, a town in the northern part of North Kivu province, on 9 July 2013 to assess the security situation.

The visit took place in an environment characterized by an increase in insecurity in the region due to recurrent cases of civilian abductions, as well as frequent rebel attacks on positions of the Congolese National Armed Forces (FARDC).

During a briefing with MONUSCO substantive sections and commanders of the Nepalese and Jordanian battalions, General dos Santos Cruz was warned against a deterioration of the security situation, fuelled mainly by activities carried out by the Ugandan rebels of the Allied Democratic Front (ADF), as well as the rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and groups of local Mai-Mai militias.

General dos Santos Cruz met also with Colonel Richard Bisamaza, Sector Commander ad interim of the FARDC, with whom he discussed insecurity issues and explored ways to put an end to this situation in the context of military operations conducted unilaterally or jointly with the FARDC.

Other members of the delegation, including the Commander of the North Kivu Brigade and the Head of MONUSCO Office for North Kivu, later held separate meetings with the mission's chiefs of substantive sections, the commanders of the Nepalese battalion and the Jordanian special force, and with Congolese officers of the FARDC, in order to get a clearer picture of issues regarding the protection of civilians and the insecurity prevailing in the territories of Beni and Lubero.

Moussa Demba Diallo and Martial Papy Mukek/ MONUSCO