DRC

Security council boosts UN troops as talks continue on Kivu crisis

Article published on the 2008-11-21 Latest update 2008-11-21 11:17 TU

A wounded government soldier
(Photo: Reuters)

The UN Security Council on Thursday increased the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monuc) by 3,000. The world's biggest UN mission will number 20,000 in an attempt to contain recent fighting in the east of the country. Rebel forces claim that government-allied militias have moved into an area that they vacated after peace talks.

Monuc's spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich said that currently the troops on the ground are "fine for patrolling" but that Monuc needs "a mobile reserve - to act quickly when an event happens".

After retreats by the DRC armed forces during recent fighting, Dietrich said "if one of the partners is not present any more in some of the zones and only Monuc remains, then that means it is very difficult".

A representative of Laurent Nkunda's militants, Bertrand Bisimwa, welcomed the troop increase but said that the UN needs to avoid "overmilitarisation" and "do more to make the belligerents negotiate as quickly as possible".

On Friday Bisimwa claimed that Rwandan Hutu fighters were moving towards Kinyandoni, which is 80 km north of North-Kivu's capital Goma, to reinforce pro-government Mai-Mai militias. Kinyandoni is inside an area from which Nkunda's fighters withdrew earlier this week following peace talks with UN envoy Olusegun Obasanjo.

The allegations came as DRC president Joseph Kabila went to Brazzaville, the capital of the neighbouring Republic of Congo, to speak with President Denis Sassou Nguesso about the situation in the DRC. Kabila will continue later Friday to Angola where he will meet President José Eduardo dos Santos.

Angola has denied charges that its troops have been fighting in the DRC in support of government troops.

Further talks will take place in the DRC capital Kinshasa next week when the Economic Community of Central African States holds an extraordinary summit to discuss the fighting in North Kivu.