WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- Elements within the Congolese military and rebel forces pose a significant security threat to U.S. citizens in the area, the U.S. State Department warned.
Militants with the Lord's Resistance Army operate along the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Central African Republic and South Sudan. Armed forces and rebel fighters are known to carry out indiscriminate civilian targets in the region.
Witness accounts said armed members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, and the Mai Mai militia were behind the sexual violence in DRC. The FDLR is linked to the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
The U.S. warning notes Congolese security forces lack discipline and the threat of serious crime in Kinshasa is considered "critical."
The warning goes on to state that because of the DRC's size, the only way to get around quickly is by plane, though domestic air travel isn't recommended.
"Requests for bribes in such instances are extremely common,and security forces have occasionally injured or killed people who refuse to pay," the warning adds. "In the past year, several U.S. citizens were illegally detained by government forces."
