{"id":160434,"date":"2023-11-08T22:05:44","date_gmt":"2023-11-08T20:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/central-africa\/dr-congo\/north-kivu-mission-de-lorganisation-des-nations-unies-en-republique-democratique-du-congo-monusco-and-forces-armees-de-la-republique-democratique-du-congo-fardc-launch-codenamed-operation-s\/"},"modified":"2023-11-08T22:05:44","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T20:05:44","slug":"north-kivu-mission-de-lorganisation-des-nations-unies-en-republique-democratique-du-congo-monusco-and-forces-armees-de-la-republique-democratique-du-congo-fardc-launch-codenamed-operation-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/central-africa\/dr-congo\/north-kivu-mission-de-lorganisation-des-nations-unies-en-republique-democratique-du-congo-monusco-and-forces-armees-de-la-republique-democratique-du-congo-fardc-launch-codenamed-operation-s\/","title":{"rendered":"North Kivu: Mission de l'Organisation des Nations unies en R\u00e9publique d\u00e9mocratique du Congo (MONUSCO) and Forces Arm\u00e9es de la R\u00e9publique D\u00e9mocratique du Congo (FARDC) Launch Codenamed Operation Springbok to Protect the City of Goma"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cOur main objective is to stop any desire by the M23 to invade Sake or Goma. Our troops are deployed throughout the region and if armed groups ever approach these towns, MONUSCO and FARDC will defend the civilian population.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

MONUSCO Force Commander, General Ot\u00e1vio Rodrigues de Miranda Filho, made this statement in a joint MONUSCO-FARDC press briefing on Friday, November 3 in Goma.<\/p>\n

For months, clashes between armed groups have been taking place in the territories of Masisi, Rutshuru and Nyiragongo. These recent fighting have caused the displacement of around 300,000 people. The United Nations estimates that in total, to date, nearly one million people in North Kivu have been displaced by the ongoing conflicts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese conflicts represent a major threat to access for humanitarian aid and to displaced persons who have found refuge in sites located on the outskirts of Goma,\u201d underscored General Ot\u00e1vio Rodrigues de Miranda Filho.<\/p>\n

During the joint meeting with media professionals attended by the Governor’s military spokesperson, Force Commander recalled that rebels are currently advancing towards the south, along the national road 2 (RN2) and from the provincial road 1030 towards Sake, a city which is intended to be an essential stronghold in the defense of Goma.<\/p>\n

General Ot\u00e1vio Rodrigues de Miranda Filho recalled MONUSCO’s commitment to working with the Congolese national army to protect civilians from armed groups in accordance with its mandate.<\/p>\n

Pooling of efforts<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe objective of this operation is to protect Goma and Sake,\u201d the UN military officer told journalists. \u201cWe decided, first of all, to establish a solid line of defense at the entrance to Goma and Sake. This is a defensive approach for the moment, but if illegal armed groups try to attack Sake and Goma, we will move from a defensive to an offensive position.\u201d<\/p>\n

The General, however, stressed that other measures are already planned. These include political and diplomatic solutions, to resolve this problem peacefully. \u201cWe must also try to use the other methods to find a peaceful solution to these conflicts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson for the North-Kivu military Governor, also spokesperson for the 34th military region, Lieutenant-Colonel Guillaume Njike Kaiko highlighted the importance of collaboration between MONUSCO and FARDC for a successful Springbok Operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this partnership, we will be able to maximize our chances of success,\u201d he confided, further indicating: \u201cFARDC believes the decision made by MONUSCO is a really important and thoughtful decision because MONUSCO knows well the enemy facing us, the M23. This enemy has already caused a lot of harm to the population in this region and others in the DRC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lieutenant Colonel Njike Kaiko insisted on the need to collaborate in order to maximize all chances for a successful operation: \u201cWhat is important here for us is this way of carrying out operations in a joint manner, for we suppose we have a common enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Offensives in the era of transition<\/strong><\/p>\n

Responding to a question on why this is happening at this very moment when the Mission is requested to leave the DRC that the Mission decides to carry out potentially offensive operations, the Brigadier General reassured, stressing that MONUSCO is carrying out this operation because it is its duty and this falls within its mandate to protect civilians in the DRC. \u201cThis year alone, we have carried out more than twenty offensive operations against illegal armed groups. In the Ituri province, we save hundreds of innocent lives everyday thanks to our presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

He further said: \u201cWe have always worked hard to fulfill our mandate. This is not a favor done to the population, but a duty. I cannot deny that we have sometimes failed in the past, but I believe the public must remember the times when we have succeeded.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UN officer concluded his remarks by declaring that the Mission does not act with the aim of convincing people of the importance of its presence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but it acts because it is responsible: \u201cWe will continue to do this until our last day in the DRC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Mission de l’Organisation des Nations unies en R\u00e9publique d\u00e9mocratique du Congo (MONUSCO).<\/i><\/p>\n

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South Africa Today Africa \u2013 Central Africa Democratic Republic of Congo<\/a> News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Download logo \u201cOur main objective is to stop any desire by the M23 to invade Sake or Goma. Our troops are deployed throughout the region and if armed groups ever approach these towns, MONUSCO and FARDC will defend the civilian population.\u201d MONUSCO Force Commander, General Ot\u00e1vio Rodrigues de Miranda Filho, made this statement in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":160435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/23a8d45d2ed5f6c","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[278],"tags":[258,256,47077,4696,6603,47078,4554,281,45646,12091,4691,450,279,280,40682,5097,549,292,45644,5741,6161,2073,4301,257,6732,8556,6202,45645,254,24816,43389],"class_list":["post-160434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dr-congo","tag-africa","tag-africa-news","tag-armees","tag-central-africa","tag-city","tag-codenamed","tag-congo","tag-democratic-republic-of-congo","tag-democratique","tag-des","tag-dr-congo","tag-dr-congo-news","tag-drc","tag-drc-news","tag-fardc","tag-forces","tag-goma","tag-kivu","tag-l039organisation","tag-launch","tag-mission","tag-monusco","tag-nations","tag-news","tag-north","tag-operation","tag-protect","tag-republique","tag-south-africa-today","tag-springbok","tag-unies"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/23a8d45d2ed5f6c","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}