International peacekeeping forces have failed to ensure the safety of civilians in Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) troubled north-eastern Ituri region, the medical aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF – Doctors without Borders) said on Friday.
”Recent military deployments have failed to provide Ituri’s civilians with real protection,” MSF said in describing the explosive situation in the region and its main town Bunia.
In April, some 600 reserve troops from the United Nation’s (UN) Mission in the DRC (Monuc) were deployed to the Ituri region, where more than 50 000 people have been killed and some 500 000 displaced since 1999.
Following vicious inter-ethnic clashes in the region that left hundreds dead in May alone, a UN-mandated European Union (EU) force was deployed last month to reinforce the overwhelmed Monuc contingent and secure Bunia.
But MSF said the French-led EU troops ”arrived too late for tens of thousands of people” in the flashpoint town.
”Nearly two months later, some city districts have been temporarily secured. However, daily life remains fraught with danger for many residents who have stayed and for those who risked returning from their exodus,” the group noted.
”Overall, security in Bunia remains extremely precarious.
Despite the force deployment, war is always close by,” MSF warned in its report, entitled Ituri: Unkept Promises. A Pretense of Protection and Inadequate Assistance.
The release of the report, which includes accounts from civilians and MSF teams in the region, came ahead of the UN Security Council’s scheduled review of the mandate of Monuc, which expires on July 30.
Noting the failure of UN peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia and Rwanda, MSF warned the Security Council to ”keep its promises to protect civilians — not to sacrifice them to other political objectives, as was the tragic case in the Srebrenica ‘safe haven’.”
Under UN Security Council Resolution 1484, the EU force is due to remain in Bunia until September 1, when they will hand over command to Monuc troops. – Sapa-AFP