United Nations, January 4 (Prensa Latina) The United Nations (UN) today appointed Brazilian Lieutenant General Otávio Rodrigues De Miranda Filho to head the Organization’s Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Miranda Filho, who has several years of experience in command and control structures in the Brazilian army, has served as commander of this South American nation’s northern military region since August 2021, according to a statement released by the United Nations spokesman.
Previously, the lieutenant general was also the head of international affairs in the armed institution of his country of origin.
His education, the note adds, included a degree in military sciences from the Das Aghulas Negras Military Academy in Brazil and various training sessions at the Army Command and General Staff Schools in Rio de Janeiro.
The person in charge succeeds Lieutenant General Marcos de Sá Affonso da Costa, also Brazilian, who will end his mission on February 28, 2023, the text says.
On that day, according to press agencies, the DRC army reported a “mass expulsion” of Congolese Tutsi – a group of Rwandan origin – to neighboring Rwanda, where they settled as refugees.
The community’s exodus comes amid a military escalation by the Tutsi-led rebel group March 23 Movement (M23).
Last December, the United Nations documented “a worrying rise in xenophobia and hate speech inciting discrimination, hostility and violence against populations of Rwandan origin (in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) perceived to support the M23.”
The eastern part of the DRC has been reeling from a conflict fueled by rebel militias and the army for more than two decades, despite the presence of the UN Stabilization Mission with more than 16,000 uniformed personnel on the ground.
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