People’s Defence Forces “not private militia”

Secretary-General of the People’s Power Committees, Raphael Ghenda, has begun recruiting for the government’s People’s Defences Forces in Kinshasa, where it hopes for 20,000 volunteers for paramilitary training, Congolese television reported on Friday. Army, air force and interior ministry officials were touring Kinshasa to check the number of recruits in the capital and to reinforce that the People’s Defence Forces were an important element “in assisting the Forces armees congolaises (FAC) and their allies in kicking the aggressors out of our territory”, the television reported. “The People’s Defence Force is not a private militia, it is rather an extension of the FAC and the national police ... a huge rearguard and back-up structure to protect the interests of the Congolese people on the streets and villages in times of war and peace,” it added.