OWN CORRESPONDENT, Washington | Tuesday 10.00pm.
DEFENCE Minister Mosiuoa Lekota warned on Tuesday that a peace agreement in the Democratic Republic of Congo cannot be successfully implemented unless the United Nations plays a larger, more effective role.
Lekota discussed the volatile situation in the DRC with US Defense Secretary William Cohen, who gave a tepid response to the call for a larger UN role.
“We think there has to be a peace before there can be an eventual peacekeeping mission in there,” Cohen told reporters after the meeting with Lekota.
“I would agree with Minister Lekota that more has to be done and more leadership has to be exercised certainly by the United Nations,” he said.
Despite a July 10 peace agreement reached in Lusaka, serious fighting between rebels and forces backing the government of Laurent Kabila have strained the ceasefire.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan last month recommended the deployment of a 500-member observer force to Kinshasa to pave the way for a peacekeeping force, but so far only a small technical evaluation mission has deployed in the country.
“We do think that the United Nations is in a position to increase its participation in the process because we don’t believe we are in a position to successfully implement the agreement without effective support from the United Nations,” Lekota told reporters. — AFP