From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Wed Apr 07 2010 - 00:43:45 EDT
Congo's president urges peacekeepers to leave
AP
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
Congo's president called for the UN's 20,000-strong peacekeeping force to
leave before September 2011 so the country can "fly with its own wings,"
but the UN secretary-general isn't signing off on a date, according to a
report.
Ban Ki-moon said he wants to ensure that military operations against rebels
in eastern Congo are successfully completed, that well trained and equipped
Congolese army units can take over the UN force's security role, and that
the government extends its authority in areas freed from armed groups
before the largest UNpeacekeeping operation in the world departs.
The secretary-general did recommend in the report to the Security Council
that the withdrawal start immediately with up to 2,000 troops leaving
peaceful areas of the central African nation by June 30, the 50th
anniversary of Congo's independence.
President Joseph Kabila initially wanted the UN force, known by its French
acronym Monuc, out of Congo before the independence celebrations. But
following a visit to Kinshasa last month by UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le
Roy, where Mr Kabila stressed "that it was now time to allow the country
'to fly with its own wings'," the government "decided to be more flexible
and shift that date to August 30, 2011", the report said.
Congo was engulfed in civil wars from 1996-2002, drawing in half a dozen
nations and leading to deployment of the UN force in 1999 to support
implementation of a cease-fire that was repeatedly broken.
Following a 2002 agreement that ended much of the fighting, Monuc supported
the reunification of the country and the country's first democratic
elections in more than four decades in 2006, which Mr Kabila won.
Mr Kabila's government, however, since struggled to assert its control in
the east and had difficulty building effective institutions and integrating
former fighters into a national army.
Mr Ban took note of Mr Kabila's desire for all UN troops to be gone by
September 2011, but didn't endorse it.
An assessment team he sent to Congo recommended withdrawing the UN force
over a period of three years if the security situation continued to improve
and the government accomplished a series of "critical tasks", according to
the report.
The team concluded that "a continued significant presence of the Monuc
force was essential in the Kivus and Orientale provinces" in the volatile
east, but not in the other eight provinces where the government could
independently maintain law and order and protect civilians, the report
said.
The secretary-general said the 50th anniversary of Congo's independence
provided an opportunity for the government and people "to turn the page on
a period of the country's history that has too often been disfigured by
conflict and violence."
He said he was convinced that a strategy could be devised to drawdown Monuc
"in a manner that both advances the realisation of the aspirations and
vision of the government and avoids the risk of reversals that could
trigger renewed instability".
Mr Ban recommended that the Security Council extend Monuc's deployment for
12 months and authorise the immediate withdrawal of up to 2,000 troops by
June 30, but he did not recommend a final withdrawal date.
Instead, he recommended that the Security Council endorse an
"understanding" in which the government and the UN would jointly review
progress toward meeting "urgent tasks".
Accomplishing the tasks would accelerate withdrawal and failing to meet
them would enable the mission and the government "to manage the potential
triggers of renewed instability," the report said.
The tasks include ending military operations against rebels in eastern
Congo, where Mr Ban said the risk of renewed instability "should not be
underestimated", and deploying trained Congolese army units, police,
administrators and legal institutions throughout the country, the report
said.
As an example of the hurdles ahead, the report said "the national army
remains an amalgamation of unvetted, untrained former militia groups" and
former army personnel with poor loyalty and discipline and a weak military
justice system unable to prevent human rights violations.
If the Security Council approves the process, Mr Ban said, the government
and Monuc would have to agree on specific benchmarks to measure progress.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----