Security Points

National security: Didier Etumba has officially taken up his duties.

The new Chief of Staff, General of DRC armed forces officially took up his duties on Thursday November 27, 2008, during a ceremony presided over by President Joseph Kabila who appointed him to the post since last November 17, by presidential order No 08/69. Lieutenant General Didier Etumba Longila who replaces Lieutenant General Dieudonné Kayembe, has taken up his duties when the question of pacification of eastern DRC is more than urgent.

Defending the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC are the main missions that General Etumba will have to respect scrupulously and to perform with loyalty and honor all missions entrusted to him.

Major challenges

Pacify the North and South Kivu where nearly two million displaced by war are reported, and where the regular army is facing with local and foreign armed groups, including the CNDP of dissident General Laurent Nkunda and Rwandan Hutu rebels. The situation is not good in the Ituri district, local militias and Ugandan rebels continue to sow death and destruction.

The second challenge is the building of FARDC. Here, the General Staff is expected to have a short, medium and long vision, allowing setting up forces capable to take over the Monuc by the end of 2009 and to develop firstly rapid intervention forces.

Among the challenges are also the efficient use of about fifteen mixed brigades, their deployment and especially, the ad hoc logistics and the current chain of command which is shielded from criticisms of the political class and people living in warring areas.

The presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate as well as the prime minister and other political and diplomatic attended the ceremony.

A military delegation of the SADC is observing the security situation in eastern DRC.

A military delegation from South African Development Community (SADC) is currently observing the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said Tuesday the United Nations.
 
"The military delegation arrived Friday and left on Wednesday, said a military spokesman of the UN Mission in DRC Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich.

On 9 November, SADC was ready to send “if necessary” peace keeping troops in the province of North Kivu, eastern DRC, where fighting resumed late August between the rebellion of Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese regular army.

SADC had also announced to send a team of regional experts to “assess the situation.”

The organization did not specify if the soldiers it could possibly deploy in the DRC would intervene as part of MONUC, which has 17,000 peacekeepers in the country.

The SADC delegation is composed of officers from Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, Swaziland and Congo.

Congolese General John Numbi, Inspector General of the Police, who has been involved in past negotiations with rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, represents the DRC.

During their visit, the officers met with political and military authorities in North Kivu. They also visited Sunday the camp of displaced of Kibati, very close to the frontline between the army and the rebels, about fifteen km, north of Goma.