Full scale military operations against the Rwandan rebels in eastern Congo have resumed, with the international community urging the Kinshasa government to offer full co-operation.

The offensive started on May 24 led by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monusco).

While most of the FDLR combatants defied the January 2, 2015 deadline to surrender voluntarily, about 314 FDLR ex-combatants are in Kanyabayonga camp with their dependents where they await repatriation by Monusco.

Another 202 ex-FDLR and their dependents have disarmed and are currently in Walungu camp, South Kivu, and around 806 others are in a camp at Kisangani.

Representatives of the Guarantors of the Peace, Security and Co-operation (PSC) Framework comprising of the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU), among others, on Wednesday visited Kanyabayonga and Nyamilima camps to see FDLR members who have been there since 2014.

They also visited the Munigi Disarmament, Demobilisation, Repatriation, Reinsertion and Resettlement (DDRRR) camp outside Goma where they met demobilised FDLR ex-combatants awaiting repatriation to Rwanda.

Prior to the visit to Munigi, the representatives of the Guarantors visited the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism (EJVM) in Goma where they were briefed on the mechanism’s activities, including operational challenges and constraints.

“The representatives of the Guarantors called on all other FDLR combatants still active in the eastern DR Congo to voluntarily surrender and submit to the repatriation process without preconditions,” the delegation said, assuring them of a safe and dignified return to Rwanda.

Rwanda, however, maintains that there is no genuine effort by the international community to deal with the FDLR problem, which has persisted for close to two decades.

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“That is how FDLR ended up mixing in the Burundi situation. So, really, Rwanda has done and continues to do what is in its power, which is to secure its borders and territory, but the rest of the international system hasn’t done much,” Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Louise Mushikiwabo said on Friday.

FDLR rebels had failed to respect a deadline set by SADC and the Intergovernmental International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) to surrender, with recent reports showing that FLDR is regrouping after only a few combatants heeded the call to surrender.

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There have been concerns that Kinshasa has not been co-operating fully in the efforts by the international community to neutralise negative forces in the eastern part of the country.

According to Stephanie Wolters, the head of Conflict Prevention and Risk Analysis Division at the Institute of Security Studies, there are lingering question whether the Congolese government is committed to the eradication of FDLR given the historical links of the Rwandan rebels having fought alongside the late Laurent Desire Kabila against the former DR Congo leader Mobutu Seseseko.

Laurent Kabila’s son Joseph Kabila — the current president — has also seen it fit to continue the relations as a bulwark against Rwanda and Uganda’s incursions into eastern DR Congo.

“There is embedded political and economic interest between the Congolese government and FDLR, not only as a check against constant interference by Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi but also in the mining sector in eastern Congo,” said Ms Wolters. Ms Mushikiwabo, however, said this was not the responsibility of DR Congo alone.

Particular blame should be placed on UN Security Council’s powerful members, especially those who moved them to DR Congo and protected them there and elsewhere, hoping to score points against Rwanda, for their own political reasons. “There’s been a lot of verbal gymnastics and no real action, to the detriment of regional stability,” she told The EastAfrican.

But the five day visit by delegates from the UN, AU, ICGLR and SADC has invigorated the operations against FDLR.