I had never heard or read a reported public statement by the US Ambassador to Congo. I read just about every news droplet about the Congo. Normally once a year, I visit US Consular but I had paid little attention who was the ambassador.
Ambassador William J. Garvelink was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo on October 22, 2007.
US praises operation against Hutu rebels in DR Congo
Washington's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday praised the joint Congolese-Rwandan offensive against Rwandan Hutu rebels in the east of the country.
"The joint DRC-Rwanda military operations in the east of Congo are showing real successes," William John Garvelink told reporters.
The Rwandan rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) had lost ground and would not pose the same threat that they had in the past, he added.
Neighbours DR Congo and Rwanda have put past differences behind them to launch the military operation against the FDLR, some of whose members have been implicated in the 1994 genocide of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda.
The FDLR, estimated at around 6,500 men, crossed over into the east of DR Congo after the Tutsi forces chased them out of Rwanda in 1994.
Garvelink also praised another joint operation against the Ugandan rebel force the Lord's Resistance Army -- this time by Congolese, Ugandan and south Sudanese forces -- in northeast Congo, which borders Uganda and Sudan.
The three countries launched that operation on December 14, but they have so far failed to capture the movement's leader, Joseph Kony.
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