[JURIST] The UN Security Council [official website] on Thursday reiterated their condemnation [press release] of a group of renegade soldiers attempting to destabilize the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) known as the 23 March Movement (M23). In addition, the Security Council called on all foreign entities to cease aiding the M23 and begin working with the Congolese government to dismantle the organization. Concern over the group was originally sparked by a report leaked in July by the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). This report alleges the M23 is receiving direct support from the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF). Rwandan authorities have denied [allAfrica report] this claim.

The renewed condemnation comes two months after the report was leaked in June following an initial call for a halt in the violence [JURIST reports]. Suspected leaders of the group who have been indicted by the International Criminal Court [official website] (ICC) include Bosco Ntaganda [case materials], Sultani Makenga, Baudouin Ngaruye, Innocent Zimurinda and Innocent Kaina. Last month former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo sought the immediate arrest of Ntaganda along with Sylvestre Mudacumura [ICC fact sheet, PDF], a foreign militia leader in the DRC. In April, Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] called [JURIST report] on DRC President Joseph Kabila to immediately arrest Ntaganda and deliver him to the ICC.