The United States welcomes the report’s suggestions and commends African-led diplomatic efforts, including the Nairobi plus Luanda processes, to promote peacefulness.
Noting the report’s clear evidence of Rwandan support to M23 and credible reports associated with grave human rights violations by M23, we state our call for Rwanda to cease all support to M23 and withdraw the troops from eastern DRC. Likewise, we denounce the particular collaboration between elements of the particular Congolese armed forces (FARDC) plus armed groups, including FDLR, as outlined in the survey. We strongly condemn episodes by multiple armed groups against UN peacekeepers, and also the reported acts of pain, rape, and attacks towards civilians by multiple equipped actors which contributed in order to massive displacement during the reporting period. Finally, we emphasize our concern about the worrying escalation of xenophobia and hate speech inciting violence against the Rwandophone community in the DRC which was highlighted in the report. We urge DRC officials to continue speaking in order to condemn such discourse and also to hold accountable those who employ violence.
The United States welcomes the midterm report from the United Nations Group of Experts launched on December 30, and shares the concerns outlined in the report about the razor-sharp increase in violence and the damage in the security and humanitarian education situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Recognizing the leadership from the Heads of State of the East African Community plus Angola, we urge Excellent Lakes leaders and equipped actors to expedite implementation of multiple commitments to end the conflict, especially all those agreed at the November 23 Luanda Mini-Summit on Peace and Security. We anticipate the UN-sanctioned March 23 Movement (M23) to pull away to the locations specified within the November 23 Luanda communique, and we call for all armed groups, including M23, to cease all hostilities, lie down their weapons, and join the East African Community-led Nairobi Process consultations involving the DRC government and armed groups.
