RCD-Goma warns of growing insecurity in east

The launch of a general mobilisation campaign to alert the population of increased insecurity in the region caused by incursions of “negative forces” was announced at a meeting in Goma on Friday of the Executive Committee of the Rwanda-backed rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma). In a statement, spokesman Kin Kiey Mulumba warned that the Interahamwe, ex-FAR (former Rwandan army) and Burundian FDD rebels - all of whom Mulumba said were “politically and ideologically aligned” - had moved from the frontlines of central DRC into areas controlled by the RCD in an effort to re-enter Rwanda and Burundi.

Mulumba stated that the RCD was taking measures to monitor the movements of these “negative forces”, noting that some had been sighted as close as 1 km to the largest RCD-controlled towns of Goma, Bukavu and Uvira. Urging residents to remain vigilant, Mulumba assured them that “in the next few days there will be a major mobilisation of resources and energies throughout our territory to save the peace process the RCD and the Congolese people value so dearly”.