By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 19 (Reuters) – The U. N. Security Council on Friday condemned an offensive by M23 in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, demanded Rwanda stop supporting the rebels and withdraw its troops, and renewed the mandate for U.N. peacekeepers.
The 15-member council, in a unanimously-adopted resolution, also demanded that Congolese troops stop supporting groups such as the FDLR and that DRC fulfil its commitment to “neutralize the group.”
The FDLR was founded by Hutus who fled Rwanda after participating in the 1994 genocide that killed close to one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus. M23 says it is fighting to protect ethnic Tutsi communities in eastern Congo.
The latest M23 advance in mineral-rich eastern Congo came a week after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame met U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington earlier this month and affirmed their commitment to a U.S.-brokered peace deal.
Rwanda, which says its troops are in eastern Congo for what it calls defensive measures, has rejected claims of supporting M23 and has blamed Congolese and Burundian forces for the latest escalation of violence.
The Security Council extended for one year the mandate for the long-running peacekeeping mission, known as MONUSCO. There are currently nearly 11,000 troops and police deployed as part of the operation.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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