ANNE PENKETH, United Nations | Monday 12.20am.
THE United Nations is preparing to authorize deployment of a substantial peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo following a peace pact signing, western diplomats say.
The head of UN peacekeeping, Bernard Miyet, said that UN chief Kofi Annan would seek authorization for a peacekeeping force of “thousands,” but declined to give specific figures until the recommendation is made to the UN Security Council this week.
Diplomats say Annan could call for a force of some 15000-20000 soldiers in the sprawling central African country. They would be deployed as foreign forces begin withdrawal from DRC under the peace pact signed late on Saturday in Lusaka, Zambia.
Miyet, a French national, on Saturday reaffirmed to council members that Annan did not want a gap between the ceasefire and the deployment of some 400-500 UN military observers.
A UN assessment team is due in Kinshasa this week ahead of the arrival of the observers, whose deployment must be authorized by the UN Security Council.
Miyet warned that tracking down and disarming the Hutu rebels in DRC, who once were part of the Rwandan government army, would be a difficult task the council needed to consider “with a lot of caution,” the diplomats said.
It was not certain how the council would react on Monday to the fact that Saturday’s signing, by leaders of the six African countries involved in the DRC conflict, took place without the rebel signatures because of a leadership row in the rebel camp.
In the light of the US debacle in Somalia in the early 1990s, the US Congress now insists on a two-week delay before authorizing UN missions, even if no US troops are involved.
The UN official added that the Organisation of African Unity summit in Algeria was likely to endorse the peace plan this week.
Miyet acknowledged that because of the West’s involvement in rebuilding the Serbian province of Kosovo, the United Nations would have to look elsewhere, notably to African states and others, for the UN troops for DRC.
But he has appealed to the United States and other western nations for logistical support. — AFP