UN: Rebel M23 continues recruitment in DRC's Orientale province

The M23 rebels continue recruitment after the peace agreements were signed in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in December 2013 and have become active again in Ituri in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a UN official warns. The special representative of the UN secretary general in the DRC, Martin Kobler, said Monday the UN mission will not let the rebel M23 resume operations and will continue its offensive against two other armed groups. A journalist living in Ituri told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that there is a suspicious movement in this part of the national territory. Kobler said the UN Mission for Stabilization of Congo (MONUSCO) shall not tolerate any military resurgence of the M23, which was routed in November 2013 by the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC), supported by the brigade intervention of MONUSCO. For more than 18 months, Rutshuru and Nyiragongo in the province of North Kivu were controlled by the M23, which established a parallel government. The leaders of the rebel movement including Col. Syltani Makenga is pursued by the Congolese justice system. After some clashes in November 2013, the M23 rebels fled to Uganda, which mediated between the Congolese government delegation and the M23. With the military victory of the national army and MONUSCO, the M23 was forced to abandon the rebellion in order to have a chance in the process of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration.