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<TD class=update width="81%">Friday, 18th December 2009</TD>
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<TD width=19><A href="http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14113&email&article=23850"></A></TD>
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<TD class=lead_title colSpan=2>Put down arms or die, Kabila tells FDLR</TD></TR>
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<TD class=lead_title colSpan=2><IMG src="http://www.newtimes.co.rw/photos/14113-kabila.jpg" border=1><BR>
<DIV class=pic_caption style="PADDING-RIGHT: 8px">WARNED: President Joseph Kabila</DIV></TD></TR>
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<TD class=lead_title colSpan=2>BY JAMES KARUHANGA </TD></TR>
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<DIV>Reports from the DRC say that Congolese President Joseph Kabila has warned FDLR militia to either lay down their arms and stop fighting or be fought to the last man.</DIV>
<DIV>Kabila said this during his just concluded tour of war-torn South Kivu province where he spent nearly a week conducting a security assessment on the entire province.</DIV>
<DIV>“The president issued a warning to the Rwandan rebels (FDLR) – he particularly told them to lay down their arms or be continuously harassed by the army,” A Congolese journalist quoted the President.</DIV>
<DIV> Categorized as a terrorist outfit, FDLR is made up of remnants Interahamwe Ex-FAR/ who spearheaded the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. They have long been entrenched in Eastern DRC, killing, raping and pillaging, despite international efforts to dislodge them.</DIV>
<DIV>While addressing multitudes of people in Bukavu, President Kabila reportedly emphasized the urgency for their surrender and repatriation back to Rwanda.</DIV>
<DIV>After touring South Kivu, Kabila on Wednesday proceeded further north to Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, where again, the security concerns were a major focus.</DIV>
<DIV>The UN envoy to the DRC, Alan Doss, recently announced that operation Kimia II, the joint DRC army-MONUC military operation against rebels will be concluded at the end of this month.</DIV>
<DIV>Doss told the Security Council that the campaign against the rebels had “largely achieved” the main goal of weakening the rebels.</DIV>
<DIV><STRONG>Ends</STRONG></DIV></TD></TR>
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