UN mission denies presence of M23 rebels in DRCongo

By Godfrey Olukya
ARU, Democratic Republic of Congo (AA) - The UN mission in Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUSCO, said there was no M23 rebels who have crossed into DRC as alleged by the authorities. ''We cannot confirm from verified information on the ground if there is any M23 rebel on DRC territory,'' Felix Prosper Basse, spokesman of MONUSCO, said in a statement.MONUSCO said no M23 rebels have crossed from Uganda into Congolese territory as claimed by Kinshasa government early this week.Basse said ever since the government of Democratic Republic of Congo complained that M23 fighters had crossed into their country from Uganda, a joint military operation of MONUSCO and DRC troops was deployed on the border with Uganda.On Monday, North Kivu Governor Julien Paluku alleged that M23 fighters had crossed into the country. The information minister Lambert Mende also confirmed the allegations.Ugandan Foreign Minister Henry Okello Oryem bitterly denied the allegations, and accused DRC authorities for not fulfilling their promise of repatriating hundreds of M23 fighters living in camps in Uganda.M23 rebels were defeated by DRC national army and UN forces in 2013 and they fled to Uganda where they were placed in camps as they negotiated with their government to be repatriated.A political analyst in Aru,Mark Songe said M23 attack allegations could be DRC's president Joseph Kabila's trick to divert Congolese attention from his refusal to hand over power as his term in office expired on December 19, 2016.