Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that UN Security Council Resolutions 2098 and 2147 are implemented in full and that effective steps are taken to demobilise and disband the FDLR from North and South Kivu; and if he will make a statement.

We are committed to supporting efforts to build greater stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Great Lakes. Ministers and officials regularly meet with representatives of the UN, MONUSCO mission leadership and Ministers from the DRC, Rwanda and other countries in the region to emphasise the importance of full implementation of UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions 2098 and 2147.

We continue to believe that the threat posed by the FDLR to civilians and the wider security of the region must be comprehensively tackled. As the 2 January deadline for voluntary disarmament has now passed and full surrender has not materialised, we believe that military action must restart against the FDLR as soon as possible. The UNSC Presidential Statement of 8 January is clear about this and we are lobbying regional leaders to deliver on the action they have promised.