IRWIN ARIEFF, United Nations | Tuesday
THE United Nations says it will capitalise on a lull in fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo by sending a smaller peacekeeping force than it had planned to the vast central African nation, but deploying it far faster.
Jean-Marie Guehenno, the undersecretary-general in charge of peacekeeping, said the world body had to build on the longest period of subdued fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo since a 1999 ceasefire pact.
“We felt we had to exploit that window of opportunity. We had to make sure that the UN would be standing ready to really provide an opportunity to the parties in the conflict to go for peace now – the peace that the Congolese people have been waiting for,” Guehenno said.
No date was given for their deployment, which will depend on when combatants pull back to positions worked out in a disengagement plan. “It’s too early to tell you that the lights are all green,” Guehenno said.
The UN plan was hastily prepared to take advantage of a lull in the fighting and renewed peace pledges since Congo President Laurent Kabila’s assassination last month. The new president, Joseph Kabila – Kabila’s son – and his main adversary, Rwanda President Paul Kagame, travelled to New York in recent weeks with new pledges to implement peace pacts.
Rwanda and Uganda, which helped put the elder Kabila in power in 1997, turned on him a year later and backed rebels trying to topple his government. Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola have sent troops to bolster the Congolese army.
The planned UN force of 500 military observers would be backed by close to 2 500 troops, which compares to the 5 537 troops and observers authorised by the council a year ago, Guehenno said. The United Nations currently has only about 200 military personnel in the Congo. – Reuters
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