Amnesty International says it opposes the DRC government’s call for U.N. forces to withdraw from the country by the middle of next year.
U.N. troops (MONUC) and government forces are currently involved in another joint operation to try to drive out Rwandan Hutu rebel forces in the east of the country. Similar offensives also have been launched in the past against the Ugandan LRA rebels in the country.
The eastern DRC has been marred by conflict for many years resulting in millions of deaths, most of them civilians. The human rights group says, “Massacres, rapes and looting continue in the country unabated.”