The United Nations on Saturday called for immediate cessation of attacks on civilians by multiple armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the UN was “concerned over the deteriorating security situation…and the increase of attacks against civilians.

Mr Dujarric said the UN was worried over increased attacks by the Cooperative for Development of the Congo (CODECO) and the M23 as well as the ongoing presence of other foreign armed groups.

He said the organisation was also concerned by the presence of foreign armed groups, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), Red Tabara and the Forces Démocratique pour la libération de Rwanda (FDLR), which continued to pose a threat to regional stability.

The FDLR is a largely Rwandan Hutu armed group operating inside DRC, some of whose members took part in the 1994 genocide, and Rwanda had reportedly alleged that the Congolese army was collaborating with it, in the border area.

He urged armed militants to end violence and to begin participating “unconditionally” in the Disarmament, Demobilisation, Community Recovery and Stabilisation Programme, and called on “foreign armed groups to immediately disarm and return to their countries of origin”.

“We reaffirm our strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the DRC and strongly condemn the use of proxies,” Mr Dujarric said in a statement.

The increase in attacks across the volatile region was the focus of a Security Council meeting at the end of May.

The brutal M23 rebel group – which began as a renegade force of army mutineers in 2012 committing many atrocities and war crimes – have launched their biggest offensive against government forces in a decade, according to news reports.

Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Peace Operations, Martha Pobee, said it was “imperative” for the Council to throw its full weight behind efforts to defuse the uptick in violence, in particular by the M23 group, which had seen thousands displaced, many fleeing across the border to Uganda.

(NAN)