/ 4 May 2000

‘SPEEDY UN DEPLOYMENT IN DRC CRUCIAL’

THE success of the peace accord for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will depend on the speed with which the United Nations deploys its observers, according to the annual report from the International Institute of Strategic Studies, released on Thursday. The respected London-based institute said that the viability of the agreement, struck in Lusaka last year, depends on a rapid deployment of military observers, designed as the precursor to the UN peacekeeping troops. The 500 observers and a planned force of 5000 supporting troops will be tasked with monitoring a ceasefire and the withdrawal of fighters from the DRC, where troops from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola are backing President Laurent Kabila against rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda.