- In Ituri, Oriental Province, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) and the District’s Commissioner have temporarily suspended the Island of Stability program in the Geti area located in the community of Walendu-Bindi, due to renewed activity by the FRPI armed group led by Cobra Matata.

“Island of Stability” refers to a set of activities meant to assist the Government in restoring and consolidation State authority in areas freed of armed groups, thus paving the way for development initiatives.

The program’s suspension was announced to a group of community leaders, intellectuals and traditional chiefs on Wednesday 24 September, during a meeting at the administrative office of the Walendu-Bindi chiefdom.

The MONUSCO Director for Ituri, M’Hand Ladjouzi, and the District Commissioner, Robert Moyemba Vunduawe, told the meeting that the increasing activities of FRPI militiamen against the civilian population made it difficult to proceed with the island of Stability program in this chiefdom.

“As long as there is no stability in terms of security, moving ahead with the project in Geti will involve enormous risks,” Mr. Moyemba Vunduawe said. A position shared by Mr. Ladjouzi but challenged by community leaders. .

Nestor Wingi Nzila, one of these local leaders, argued: “This Island of stability looks like a give and take, conditioned on the militiamen’s exit. It seems to say you give us the militiamen, the island of stability project will then come. If the bid to convince [FRPI leader] Cobra Matata has failed and if tomorrow we are asked to go and convince his men and we fail to, will this mean that the project will not happen?”

Mr. Ladjouzi in response said: “How can you do any projects in a region that is under the threat of militiamen? We have already tried to do that in the past; we tried to construct a police station and it did not work because of FRPI activism. The result was the police station was damaged and the equipment taken away. This is what we don’t want to redo.”

To date, calls from MONUSCO and district authorities for FRPI militiamen still active in Walendu-Bindi chiefdom to voluntarily surrender have remained unheeded.

The MONUSCO Force Commander, General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz, has mentioned joint preparations by MONUSCO and the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) for a military operation against the FRPI.

Laurent Sam Oussou/MONUSCO