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| - A group of UN experts overseeing sanctions in the Democratic Republic of Congo has warned of a proliferation of homemade bombs in the country's northeast, in an annual report seen by AFP Tuesday. In suggestions to the Security Council, the group encouraged the UN's MONUSCO peacekeeping mission to increase its capabilities "including its awareness, search, detection and response capacities on improvised explosive devices." A frequent weapon of choice for armed groups spanning from Afghanistan to the Sahel, IEDs have seen a recent uptick in the DR Congo. "The group recommends that the Security Council mandate MONUSCO to improve its capacity to counter improvised explosive devices," the document said. The Security Council meanwhile warned against the potential for violence in the country to hinder delivery of humanitarian aid, particularly in the wake of an eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano, which briefly flared to life on May 22. In a unanimously approved declaration, the Security Council called on "all armed groups to cease immediately all forms of violence, in order to enable the safe, unhindered and sustained delivery of humanitarian assistance and post-disaster reconstruction." The group of experts said in their report that over the past year "armed groups continued to operate with near impunity in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo" with infiltrations by individuals from neighboring countries. They added that the upsurge was particularly acute in areas where the Allied Democratic Forces, a notorious militia that has been linked to the Islamic State group, was operating. The experts, however, said they were "unable to establish direct support or command and control (of the Islamic State group)... over ADF, despite ADF attempts to project alignment." According to the report, armed groups are using IEDs with more of an aim to secure control of local areas rather than as a tool of mass terrorism, which has nonetheless resulted in a growing number of civilian casualties. The document also touched on the death of Italian ambassador Luca Attanasio, who was killed in February in an ambush in the DR Congo while travelling in a UN convoy. The group said it had not been able to identify the perpetrators, but that national and international investigations are still ongoing. In early May, Kinshasa announced a "state of siege" in several provinces in the country's east, while President Felix Tshisekedi said he was preparing "radical measures" to deal with the security situation in the region. An estimated 122 armed groups of varying sizes operate in mineral-rich eastern DRC, many a legacy of regional wars in the 1990s. prh/bfm/dw
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