French combat troops are expected to fly into the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Ituri province next week with a UN mandate to secure the airport at Bunia and protect civilians from further massacres.
Fighting has killed at least 300 people this month in the DRC. An estimated 50 000 have died over the past four years in the north-eastern part of the country.
The latest killings by marauding gangs achieved publicity mainly because hundreds of people tried to break into the compound of a lightly armed UN observer mission, which was unable to help them. Tens of thousands of others fled into the forests.
The UN security council authorised the French-led mission yesterday after several other countries agreed to take part following days of consultations in New York. Britain will not send combat troops, because it has so many forces deployed in Iraq and elsewhere, but it is likely to send a few dozen staff officers and, either for clearing mines and digging wells, or for upgrading Bunia’s airport, according to Whitehall officials.
France will provide about half the 1 200-strong force. It refused to take on the mission alone after its actions in Rwanda in the mid-1990s, when it was accused of aiding the genocide of hundreds of thousands of Tutsi civilians.
Britain’s contribution, although small, is considered important by UN officials as a way of pressing Uganda and Rwanda to support the mission. Yesterday’s UN resolution called on all neighbouring states to cease arming the rival militias.
The battle for Bunia began after Ugandan troops withdrew from the town on March 6 under a peace agreement. Lendu militias captured Bunia and began killing Hema civilians, putting 250 000 people to flight. The town was then taken over by Rwandan-supported Hema militias.
The UN has 3 000 troops in other parts of Congo, a force too small to police the country. The troops for Bunia, authorised yesterday, will replace 700 Uruguayan observers, but are only a stopgap. Known as the interim emergency multinational force, their mandate lasts until the end of August when about 1 500 Bangladeshi troops are due to arrive.
”It’s not enough but it’s a good start,” was the verdict of Steve Crawshaw, the London director of Human Rights Watch, which, with Amnesty International last week, issued a strongly worded letter calling on governments to protect civilians.
Amnesty welcomed the move. Representatve Neil Durkin said: ”The situation in Ituri is critical and action is long overdue. Only this week we’ve received deeply worrying reports of dozens being held in steel containers and tortured after what appears to have been a failed coup attempt against an armed group commander. The UN force must operate to a robust mandate and be able to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches civilians.”
Patrick Smith, the editor of Africa Confidential, said the mission did not have a plan for demilitarising the area – which would involve providing cash, retraining and jobs: ”It could also just be a band-aid operation or even be drawn into the hands of those who want to upset the peace agreement. There are reports that troops of the Kabila government in Kinshasa hope to … take Bunia.”
The poor state of Bunia’s airport, meanwhile, will entail the mission taking days if not weeks to amass. The short runway has a thin layer of tar, which has to be relaid over the soil after almost every landing. Only a few flights can be made each day.
Like Britain, other EU countries are reluctant to send combat troops. Belgium is expected to send an army medical team. Germany will give logistical support. South Africa, the main regional power with a professional army, has agreed to provide some combat units but is asking for financial and other help to airlift them into Bunia.
Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil, Denmark and Sweden have also offered to help.
The UN and its member governments have been stung into action partly through fear of a repetition of the failure to prevent the Rwanda massacres of 1994. The row over the war in Iraq also played a role, with France anxious to take an active military part after trying to block the US-led war.
Britain agreed to join the mission under French leadership, at least with a small contingent, because the government wants to patch up its relations with Paris. -Guardian Unlimited Â