UN suspends support for Congolese army over human rights issues

The United Nations has suspended its support to the Congolese army in its fight against Rwandan combatants after the army appointed two generals accused of human rights violations, a UN official confirmed to the (dpa) news agency.
The official said that the UN had "raised concerns" about two Congolese army generals and human rights violations. It has "paused" its support for operations against the armed group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) that is based in the country.
"We are in constant high-level contact with the government and we are confident that a solution will be found," the official said.
"We intend to fully support the FDLR operations as soon as the outstanding issues regarding command of the operations are resolved," the official said.
The UN had previously warned the Congolese government to remove generals Bruno Mandevu and Fall Sikabwe, who are on the UN's "red list" for alleged human rights violations.
The DRC announced less than two weeks ago that its military would begin operations against the FDLR.
Originally, plans called for a UN-DRC joint operation. But the country opted to carry out military action on its own, with the UN providing logistics, fuel and food rations for troops.
That support has now been suspended.
The military operations were launched when FDLR combatants failed to surrender and demobilize by a January 2 deadline set by the Southern African Development Community and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region.
The FDLR has been destabilizing the security and humanitarian situation in the eastern DRC and also often crosses the border into Rwanda to stage attacks.