US Calls For Measures Against Networks Financing Armed Groups In DR Congo

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations has emphasised the need to fight against networks that finance armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Thomas-Greenfield who was speaking on Tuesday, March 29, on the deteriorating security situation in the eastern DR Congo expressed this urgent need, following a report presented to the Security Council on the general security situation in the DR Congo by Bintou Keita, the head of the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO).

 “All the people present in this hall and who are listening to us today know perfectly well that the illegal traffic in natural resources in the eastern DR Congo and in the border regions feed and directly finance the activities which daily threaten the lives of Congolese,” she said.

“These resources should rather be used to build a future for the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

The American Ambassador particularly insisted on the existence of a very big network which sponsors the persistence of insecurity in the eastern part of the DR Congo.

“We are preoccupied by the conclusion of the report of the Secretary General according to which, in the regions of South Kivu, we notice the increasing presence of armed groups linked to regional criminal groups which orchestrate the exploitation of illegal minerals.”

“We must put an end to this. That is why we remain determined to work with member states to resort in a resolute manner to the sanctions regime number 1533 of the Security Council concerning the DR Congo.”

The United States had last week sanctioned Israeli mineral trafficker Alain Goetz and his network in the DR Congo.

The Biden administration explained that its severe posture was dictated by its determination to bring to the open and disorganised the networks of those who want to make profits to the detriment of the security and development of the country and its population.