Intelligence experts from Rwanda, DR Congo and Angola will meet on August 7 to examine a proposed plan for the “neutralization of the FDLR,” according to a statement issue after the July 30 meeting of foreign ministers of the three countries in the Angolan capital Luanda.
The plan to neutralise the FDLR, a DR Congo-based militia founded by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, was developed by the Congolese government.
The UN-sanctioned terrorist group, which has launched attacks on Rwanda since its founding in 2000, is at the heart of diplomatic tensions between Rwanda and DR Congo.
The second ministerial meeting between DR Congo and Rwanda was mediated by Angola’s foreign minister Tete Antonio. It was attended by Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Olivier Nduhungirehe and his Congolese counterpart Therese Kayikwamba Wagner.
The ministers decided the “operationalization of the FDLR Neutralisation Plan,” read the final statement from the meeting.
The first ministerial meeting of the foreign ministers was in March.
The proposed plan for FDLR’s neutralisation was submitted to the mediator on April 26 and the Rwandan government shared its analysis and observation on it on May 6.
“The Ministers took note of the Mediator’s proposal arising from the Plan proposed by the [Congolese government] on the neutralization of the FDLR and the observations of Rwanda,” the statement said.
“They therefore instructed intelligence experts from the three countries and other entities” to meet in Luanda on August 7, to “examine the Mediator’s proposal on the Harmonized Plan for the Neutralization of the FDLR,” the statement added.
The intelligence experts are expected to submit their report by August 15, before the ministerial meeting which is also due in August.
The Angola-mediated negotiations between Rwanda and DR Congo, known as the Luanda Process, were initiated in mid-2022 after the two countries’ relations took a hit from the conflict between the Congolese army and the M23 rebels in North Kivu province.
The Congolese government accuses Rwanda of supporting the rebels – allegations Kigali dismisses.
Rwanda has also laid out its concerns about the integration of the FDLR into the Congolese army in its war against the M23 rebels.
The Rwandan government says the FDLR, which is accused of spreading genocide ideology and hate speech against the Congolese Tutsi communities, not only threatens Rwanda’s security but also the wider Great Lakes Region.
The United Nations Special Advisor Alice Wairimu Nderitu said earlier this week that the presence in eastern DR Congo of the militia implicated in the Genocide against the Tutsi fed into a “cycle of impunity.”
“As we commemorate 30 years after the Genocide against the Tutsi, there are more than 1,000 indictments and international arrest warrants in 33 countries for perpetrators of the Genocide against the Tutsi,” Nderitu said as she concluded a week-long visit to Rwanda.
“Some of these indicted people, in their hundreds, are based in the [DR Congo]. It is unacceptable that these people have not been brought to trial yet.”
“Accountability is the first step towards breaking the cycle of impunity and recurrence,” said Nderitu, adding that risk factor for genocide in eastern DR Congo “remain grimly high.”