The deadline for the voluntary disarmament of FDLR rebels elapsed on January 2. A military offensive was expected right after, but it did not take place. When are you launching the attacks?

We can effectively launch the military offensive any time as long we are in agreement with the authorities in the DRC. This is a joint operation with the FARDC (government forces). Our troops are deployed, our logistics are deployed and we have a joint command centre in Kiwanja.

And while there is a strong commitment from the FARDC to launch the offensive, there must be a green light from the command and instructions from Kinshasa. If these instructions are given tonight, we shall go ahead tomorrow morning or even tonight.

On the other hand, the matter is being discussed at the fifth Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in Luanda, Angola. So we have to wait for a decision as all parties present their evaluations. Our evaluation is clear, the peace process failed and it is time to start a military operation.

You said you are working with FARDC, but a recent report leaked to the public alleges that there is complicity between government forces and FDLR, with the former accused of arming the Rwandan rebels. Wouldn’t this affect a joint operation?

Of course this complicity is an issue. However, it means persuading the FARDC to work with us. We have to fight the complicities and we fight together with those who want to do it with us. I am confident that there are many more units that are non-complicit.

I have spoken with the FARDC commander-general, and I can confidently say that the command and the commanders of this operation are committed to fighting the FDLR with us, and we will give them all the support we can.

But the Rwandan government says there seems to be a lack of political will and genuine commitment by Monusco and the Force Intervention Brigade to decisively deal with the FDLR?

That is not true. We have a mandate to fulfil. This mandate, as adopted by the UN Security Council, expects us to neutralise all negative forces in DRC, including FDLR, and we are going to do it. All preparations have been made; the intelligence is done; we have pre-deployed troops in the FDLR area; targets are selected; we have the political will and military capabilities.

Recently, FDLR ‘president’ Victor Byiringiro said that the UN failed in the disarmament process by not providing the necessary facilities for the rebels and their families to disarm and repatriate peacefully. He claimed that even the few who surrendered did so under appalling circumstances — without food and other basic needs. What is your take on this?

I read the statement. Over the past six months, we have had 10 official meetings with the FDLR leadership because they were given this grace period to disarm. We spent $2 million on food and tents in Kanyabanyonga, Walungu and in Kisangani. But the FDLR misused the six months to recruit, including children.

There were at least 11 documented cases of children below the age of 10 and 15 recruited between July 2014 and now, to the FDLR. This is unacceptable. They did not use the time to voluntarily surrender and because of this, we reached the conclusion that time is up, the clock is ticking, the military option is the only way out to neutralise armed groups.

There are reports of different players, including regional countries, determined to prevent military action?

I don’t see anyone getting in our way. There is an international and regional consensus to put an end to the FDLR. A few months ago, there were those who wanted us to start the military operation immediately, and those who raised the white flag, saying that FDRL deserved a chance to surrender.

The six months were instituted and now they have elapsed. I don’t see anybody blocking us now. We are only waiting for the decision of the summit.

How prepared are you for a possible humanitarian crisis arising from the military offensive?

We learnt our lessons in 2009 and 2010 during operations against the Kimya II and Umoja Wetu rebels in the DRC. Now we have a joint operations planning team and humanitarian organisations are part of this. We are trying to avoid the negative effects on the civilian population. In our public messaging in FDLR positions, we say very clearly that we are fighting the combatants.

We are not fighting the Rwandan refugees; we are not fighting the Congolese Hutu living there or other populations. Our enemies are the FDLR combatants.

In military operations planning, the United Nations has strict rules on mitigating the collateral damage. We cannot go into places like refugee camps where FDLR combatants could be hiding, at least not with aerial raids; we shall use other means to take the FDLR out.

But the FDLR has a history of embedding itself among civilian populations or using them as human shields. They did this in the late 1990s when they infiltrated Rwanda. They have embedded themselves among Congolese populations for years. How prepared are you to deal with this?

It is a problem, but how many did we have at the time? Between 12,000 and 15,000. Since 2002, about 12,000 have been repatriated to Rwanda. Now we have 1,000 or 2,000 — nobody really knows, and the area of operation is much smaller. At the time, the whole place was carpeted with FDLR.

Now they are limited to a few areas south of Lake Kivu making it easier to handle the situation. So while there is no guarantee in military operations, we promise to mitigate the effects on civilian populations as much as possible.

We have done the contingency planning and we have been telling humanitarian organisations that should anything happen, we are prepared.

Have you set a timeline?

No. We have not given ourselves any timelines.