Congo wants UN peacekeepers out next year but top boss of peacekeeping ops says they’re needed
By APThursday, March 4, 2010
UN Peacekeeper boss: Congo still needs us
KINSHASA, Congo — The U.N. could start withdrawing troops from war-ravaged Congo this year, but the head of the world body’s peacekeeping division said the soldiers should remain in the east, which is still being terrorized by Rwandan and Ugandan militias.
Alain Le Roy told reporters Wednesday night after talks with top government officials that the U.N. is ready to start withdrawing its peacekeepers in June 2010 from Kasai and Katanga provinces. The areas were once on the front lines of a 1999-2002 war which split the country into rival fiefdoms. They have been relatively calm for years and are far from the vast nation’s recent fighting.
The U.N. mission has been in Congo since 1999. It is the largest in the world with about 16,500 troops and 3,000 civilian staff.
Le Roy said U.N. forces will still be needed to back ongoing Congolese military operations against Rwandan Hutu rebels in the east and in the north against the Uganda-based Lord’s Resistance Army, which has been mutilating and raping villagers.
The U.N. team is in Congo to discuss with authorities how to reshape the U.N. mission and will report to the U.N. Security Council by April 1.
Last year, Congo President Joseph Kabila asked the global body to submit a proposal, including a calendar, for a drawdown of the force, known by its French acronym MONUC.
Back to back wars shook Congo from 1996 to 2002, drawing in half a dozen African nations. Kabila’s government, however, has since struggled to assert its control in the east and has had difficulty building effective institutions and integrating former fighters into a national army.
(This version CORRECTS spelling of byline.)
