162 Rebel Fighters Surrender To DR Congo Army And UN Forces
According to the military spokesperson, the development was as a result of sensitization carried out by the FARDC and MONUSC.
The DR Congo national army, FARDC, has said that 162 militia affiliated to different armed groups in the Kalehe territory have surrendered to the army and the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) between Dec. 10 and 15, 2021.
“There are already 162 who have surrendered and there are more or less 19 weapons they brought along. It is Kirikicho, the chief of the militia who has not yet come out of the bushes. We are still waiting for him,” Dede Mwamba Tshibwabwa, administrator of Kalehe territory, revealed.
According to the military spokesperson, the development was as a result of sensitization carried out by the FARDC and MONUSCO, adding that the rebels who laid down their weapons were from the Kirikicho, Nyatura and CNRD Machano groups.
“The elements of the Kirikicho armed group are 25 in number who came with six AK-47 and one calibre 12 rifles. There are 77 who surrendered from the CNRD Nyatura group led by Machano and they handed over 23 AK-47 rifles and the others are from other groups,” Lt.-Colonel Jean Louis Tshimwang, spokesperson of the 33rd military region said.
“They came out of the bushes after joint sensitization by the FARDC and MONUSCO. They are for now being taken care of by MONUSCO in Tushunguti.”
This is not the first time a large number of armed militia have surrendered to the FARDC and MONUSCO.
Tens of rebels had in the past surrendered but in the absence of an adequate disarmament, demobilisation and reinsertion policy, all of them ended up returning to the bushes
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