Joint Offensive in DR Congo

Experts are warning that a new joint offensive by Congolese troops and UN peacekeepers against rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo will make the country's humanitarian crisis even worse.

The military action planned against the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), "will lead to more atrocities against Congolese civilians, create greater numbers of displaced and desperate people and, because of the [United Nations'] involvement, do lasting damage to its peacekeeping," said Colin Thomas-Jensen, a policy advisor to the Enough project to end genocide, and Rebecca Feeley, an Enough field researcher based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The three-month joint military operation will aim to dislodge the rebels from the towns and villages they currently occupy in eastern DRC. However, the FDLR -- whose leadership includes masterminds of the 1994 Rwandan genocide -- have adeptly evaded previous military assaults only to retaliate by attacking civilians, burning and looting their villages, and raping and murdering hundreds.