Goma — UN peacekeepers in the Congo and the Congolese National Police will keep control of Goma until the ICGLR decides on the return of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), General Babacar Gaye, a military adviser to the UN Secretary-General, has said.
After the withdrawal of the M23 rebels from the city on Saturday, Gen. Gaye visited the area yesterday morning and told reporters that security in the area would be maintained as per the decisions of a recent regional Heads of State and Government Summit in Kampala, Uganda.
"I think the police have already arrived. I also know that we shall work with a (FARDC) battalion which will be deployed here to help reassure the population of their security," he said.
By press time, FARDC soldiers were in Sake town, a few Kilometres from Goma, having sent about 200 military police personnel to back up the police officers already in the city.
The peace keepers and police officers are already occupying offices of state enterprises and institutions such as the Directorate General of Migration (DGM), the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (LDB) and National Intelligence Agency (ANR).
On Saturday, the commander of the police unit deployed in Goma, Colonel Henry Kapend, asked all police officers who remained in Goma during the occupation of the M23 to join the ranks of the police.
Congolese police are deployed in Goma since Saturday December 1 after the withdrawal of the rebel Movement of March 23 (M23), who occupied the city for ten days.
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