The Congolese Army (FARDC) in the Katanga region have sent an appeal to militia leader and prison-escapee Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga to surrender and lay down his arms to the UN Peacekeeping Mission (MONUSCO) or the local authorities.
On Sunday, Katanga & Kasai regions senior FARDC senior officer General Arsene Kifwa sent a message to Mutanga requesting him to cease his militia operations in the region and benefit from the amnesty law.
“The message is that Gédéon must understand that it is no longer the time to wage war. Let him lay down his arms and come forward. We will welcome him. He will benefit from the armistice law like other rebel leaders” General Kifwa said.
General Kifwa said Mutanga was all assured of being welcomed by the state regardless of the fact that he had escaped from prison in 2011 having been sentenced for committing several war crimes.
“I cannot dwell on a subject that is not my domain. But what I can give him as a guarantee if he lays down his arms, he will be welcomed” declared General Kifwa.
Mutanga’s militia group have caused problems for the FARDC who have failed to halt the insecurities instigated in several localities in the Katanga region for many years.
