The South African government says it has taken note of the United Nations Security Council statement concerning the disarmament of the armed group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

“We reaffirm our commitment to the objectives for which the FIB was established, inter alia, for the neutralisation of negative forces in the eastern DRC, as demonstrated by the participation of our troops in various MONUSCO operations, including the latest joint MONUSCO/FARDC operation of 5 January 2015 against the rebel group Forces for National Liberation (FNL),” the Department of International Relations and Cooperation said on Monday.

South Africa is a troop contributor to the MONUSCO (United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) – Force Intervention Brigade (FIB), established by UN Resolution 2098 of 2013 and operating under UN command.

In a presidential statement adopted last Thursday, the UNSC noted that the FDLR "has not only failed to unconditionally and fully surrender and demobilise, but has also continued to recruit new fighters in their ranks".

It stressed that the approximately 300 FDLR members that have surrendered, consisting of non-essential fighters, do not meet the condition of full demobilisation of the armed group as required.

As the primary remnant Rwandan Hutu rebel group fighting in the eastern part of the DRC, the FDLR is recognised by the Council as a group whose leaders and members were among the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

The deadline for the FDLR to disarm voluntarily or face military action, set by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), expired on 2 January 2015, which therefore rendered military option inevitable.

A Joint Summit of Heads of State and Government of SADC and the ICGLR will take place on January 15 - 16 in Luanda, Angola, to review the situation related to the voluntary disarmament of the FDLR and to decide on the appropriate action to be taken following the expiry of the deadline that had been set.