In an interview on Top Congo FM on Thursday, Government spokesman Lambert Mende said, in response to the latest Human Rights Watch report on the Democratic Republic of Congo, that the NGO risks loosing all its credibility by issuing sensational reports on the situation in the DRC to make headlines.

He accused the NGO of pursuing a hidden agenda in the Congo. He said he wondered why the NGO has focused its “attacks” on the Congolese Government, which is only trying to protect itself against “terrorist groups”.

Lambert Mende said that the NGO seems to have found an “easy target” in the Congolese Government. He questioned its “tendency to shoot on ambulances”. He added that it’s “easy for Human Rights Watch to attack a country like ours”. And that, “Human Rights Watch should be applauded for its courage to always shoot at the weak”.

Lambert Mende said that the DRC “no longer needs these kind of groups that come here simply to get something to work on, to increase their budgets, or extend their mandates”.

He also said that it’s not because there are still “terrorist acts being perpetrated” in eastern Congo “that the Government has failed”. He argued that many other countries have had difficulties dealing with terrorist groups without being labeled by the NGO as failed states.

Lambert Mende also said that if Human Rights Watch “has a score to settle with Joseph Kabila, they shouldn’t try to use the situation in eastern Congo to do it. They are simply trying to weaken and demoralize us in our existential right of resistance against terrorist movements”.

He added that “Human Rights Watch has said almost nothing against the FDLR (Rwandan Hutu militia) and LRA (Ugandan militia) that are attacking us. All the attacks of Human Rights Watch are aimed at the Congolese government, enough is enough!”.

on the web: Congo News Agency

1. • UN mission speaks out after human rights defender is kidnapped (August 31, 2010)
2. • Key excerpts from UN report on Rwandan army genocide in DR Congo (August 27, 2010)
3. • UN report says Rwandan army committed genocide in DR Congo (August 26, 2010)
4. • UN Security Council calls for urgent action over mass DR Congo rape (August 26, 2010)
5. • UN Defends Inaction on Mass Rapes in Eastern Congo, Government Missing in Action (August 26, 2010)
6. • LRA: UNHCR relocates 1,500 refugees from CAR to the DRC (August 24, 2010)
7. • FDLR Rebels Continue Campaign of Terror in Eastern Congo (August 23, 2010)
8. • Two Suspects Arrested in Attack on MONUSCO Base (August 20, 2010)
9. • UN: Risks Increasing For Humanitarian Aid Workers (August 19, 2010)
10. • Report: Uganda LRA rebels 'on massive forced recruitment drive' (August 12, 2010)
11. • Congo Army Killed Ugandan Rebels Commander in North Kivu - Government (August 4, 2010)
12. • Opposition, NGOs Vow to Join Forces to Fight 'Erosion of Democracy' (July 31, 2010)
13. • Huge DR Congo gold mine to open, displacing 15,000 (July 22, 2010)
14. • Floribert Chebeya's autopsy 'inconclusive' (July 9, 2010)
15. • Congo Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Independence (June 30, 2010)
16. • Report Says Uganda's Elusive LRA Rebel Almost Caught Last Year (June 24, 2010)
17. • Tullow Oil loses Congolese permit on Lake Albert (June 24, 2010)
18. • UN experts welcome steps taken in wake of murder of Floribert Chebeya (June 9, 2010)
19. • DR Congo suspends police chief over Floribert Chebeya death (June 6, 2010)
20. • US Deeply Concerned by Death of Floribert Chebeya (June 4, 2010)
21. • Joint Government and UN Inquiry Needed into Death of Floribert Chebeya (June 3, 2010)
22. • Top UN officials urge inquiry into killing of Congolese human rights activist (June 3, 2010)
23. • Leading Human Rights Activist Found Dead in Congo (June 2, 2010)
24. • U.S. Official Sees Improvement in Africa's Great Lakes Region (May 26, 2010)
25. • Great Lakes regional body calls for free, fair elections in member states (May 23, 2010)
26. • Great Lakes states meet in Uganda over conflict minerals (May 23, 2010)
27. • African Leaders Discuss Nile River Dispute (May 23, 2010)
28. • Leader of Enyele Rebels Arrested in Equateur (May 5, 2010)
29. • Uganda opens refinery for Congo gold (May 5, 2010)
30. • 54 FDLR Rebels Relocated from North Kivu to Katanga (May 4, 2010)

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