The French-led international force taking shape in the volatile northeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town of Bunia is still unable to stem a spate of abductions and killings there, its spokesperson said on Monday.
According to Monuc, the UN mission in DRC which predates the international, UN-mandated peacekeeping force, 48 people were abducted in Bunia between June 8 and 15. Of these, one person is known to have died and five escaped, while the fate of the others is unknown.
Fourteen of the abductions took place over the weekend, according to Monuc spokesperson Madnodje Mounoubai, who refused to comment on suggestions that the faction now dominant in Bunia, the Union of Congolese Patriots, was responsible.
”Security in Bunia is worsening,” he told a news conference.
”On average, there are four cases of abduction every day. In most cases the information we are receiving is that they are being carried out by armed men in military uniform who come to people’s home,” he said.
Bunia is the epicentre of a long-running and multi-faceted ethnic conflict that has claimed the lives of hundreds of people in recent weeks and of some 50 000 since 1999.
A spokesperson for the UN-mandated French-led force now deploying in Bunia told the same news conference that it would take ”several weeks to secure the town.”
”Now the force is not able to prevent this kind of event,” said Major Xavier Pons.
”The force will have the means to carry out its mission when fully up and running,” he said, adding that because of the poor state of Bunia’s runway, this could take several more weeks.
Pons said the force, code-named Artemis, whose mandate expires September 1, was not yet conducting patrols at night, when most abductions take place, although Mounoubai said Monuc was doing so.
When fully operational, ”if an (Artemis) patrol sees an abuse, it will intervene,” said Pons.
”I think it will be sufficient,” he added, noting that at full strength, Artemis would comprise some 800 troops in Bunia itself and another 700 or so based at Entebbe international airport in neigbhouring Uganda.
But he added that Artemis had no legal authority to take prisoners in such cases.
Pons said some 500 Artemis soldiers were currently on the ground and had secured the airport and a nearby camp for displaced people.
Starting from Monday, Puma Gazelle military helicopters would begin arriving to back up Artemis troops on the ground, he said.
After September 1, Artemis is supposed to hand over its security role to a contingent of Bangladeshi troops.
Artemis has been criticised in some quarters, notably by the International Crisis Group, a think tank, for being too limited in duration, manpower and geographical presence, to ensure durable security in Ituri, the region of which Bunia is the capital. – Sapa-AFP