UN General Assembly
2025

Excellency, since 1999, the United Nations has maintained a robustly mandated peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, named MONUSCO, to help address the crisis. Yet, despite its efforts, the mission has not succeeded in halting the proliferation of armed groups, especially the eradication of the DRC-backed FDLR. Instead, MONUSCO has ended up working alongside a military coalition that includes the FDLR, going against more than 20 Security Council resolutions calling for the neutralization of that group. There is an urgent need to review the legal conformity of MONUSCO's mandate. Of particular concern to Rwanda is the emergence of Wazalendo militia, armed and supported by the DRC government, which are committing countless abuses, including burning down whole villages of Congolese Tutsi, lynching and burning alive civilians and military officers as well as arming children for ethnic cleansing. Their brutality, methods and ideology bear an alarming resemblance to that of the genocidal militia of 1994 in Rwanda. Strong action is needed to put an end to this dangerous development before it is too late.