For about 14 years now, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) – a Rwandan Hutu militia whose leaders are linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide have been operating from and in DR Congo, but a joint military operation that has sought to halt their activities and bring them to book has been been initiated.
Only last month, Rwanda’s government and the government of the DR Congo agreed to take joint action to fish the rebel group out to face justice in Rwanda and to allow stability in Congo.
This decision to join the armies of Rwanda and DR Congo to fight the FDLR militia came to fruition yesterday as the combined armed forces stormed eastern Congo in a plot to cripple the Hutu militias.
The military initiative is however said to lack strategic planning and major concerns have been raised about the use of force. The United Nations has expressed fears on a looming humanitarian disaster.
Experts have accused the Hutu rebels of being responsible for the instability in DR Congo, and some observers have accused Rwanda of invading eastern Congo for its mineral resources.
But the Rwandan army has insisted that it has always invaded the eastern region of DR Congo in search of the Hutu rebels who crossed over to the country to escape justice and legal action for their role in the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi ethnicity in Rwanda and Congo.
It is still uncertain why the joint force is moving to the town, which is held by the National Congress for the Defense of the People a faction of the Congolese Tutsi rebel.
Reports claim that there were no consultations with the international community over the decision to invade the Hutu militia hideout in Goma, Congo.
