An advance party of French troops has arrived in this north-eastern corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to prepare the ground for the arrival of an European Union (EU)-led force intended to stabilise the region after hundreds were killed in more than a week of tribal fighting, a United Nations (UN) official said on Friday.
The vanguard of the international force arrived in Bunia ”to check the tactical situation on the ground, to check the geography, to check the state of the airstrip and to organise security for planes” that would bring the main force of up to 1 700 EU troops, said Colonel Daniel Vollot, the commander of UN forces in Bunia.
Vollot declined to reveal the number of troops who arrived in Bunia, capital of the troubled Ituri district, where some 500 people have been killed in battles between rival Hema and Lendu tribal fighters since Ugandan troops pulled out on May 7.
A unit of French army technical experts arrived on Thursday in Entebbe, in neighbouring Uganda, to establish a support base there, Colonel Christian Baptiste, a French army spokesperson said on Thursday.
Under the UN mandate, the multinational force is to stay on until September, when a larger UN force led by Bangladesh is to arrive.
The force, led by France, has been assembled as part of an effort to quell violence between rival rebel groups in the DRC’s Ituri province that has left 500 dead. – Sapa-AP