Congo fails to secure troops

2009-02-04 11:29

New York - Eastern Congo has failed to secure more peacekeepers despite calls by the United Nations Security Council to beef up forces.

The UN Security Council gave a go ahead more than two months ago to add 3 000 more peacekeepers in eastern Congo but the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has failed to get positive results from the 65 nations approached.

In a letter made public on Tuesday, Ban advised the council that only Bangladesh was committed to offer more troops or police: an infantry battalion, a company of engineers and a police unit. Belgium had promised to provide a C-130 military transport aircraft.

Ban said five other nations had pledged to send intelligence experts, but not the equipment required.

"Troop-contributing countries have not been as receptive as we had hoped despite the UN's best efforts," he said.

Resources essential

"The need for robust and highly mobile troops was particularly emphasised," he said. "I am especially concerned about the lack of formal offers of special forces companies."

Another big worry, he added, was that no nation had expressed interest or committed to providing another C-130 aircraft, 18 helicopters and 200 military trainers and advisers that were needed.

"These resources are essential for the mission's mobility and rapid reaction capacity, which are vital if it is to fulfill the mandate set out by the Security Council," Ban said.

Japanese Ambassador Yukio Takasu, who took over the presidency of the Security Council this month, said its members had been discussing the shortfalls.

"I think the council needs to help with that to expedite the deployment," he said.

Temporary expansion

The council in November approved the temporary expansion to assist the 17 000 peacekeeping soldiers and police authorised in eastern Congo who now make up the UN's largest such force. Since then, however, the conflict in the eastern Congo has taken a surprising turn.

Congo's Tutsi-led rebellion had controlled a large swath of territory north of Goma, the regional capital. But neighbouring Rwanda turned on rebel chief Laurent Nkunda and detained him as part of a deal in which rebels from a splinter faction led by Bosco Ntaganda said they would operate under Congo's army command and integrate into its ranks.

Rwanda gained approval to send thousands of troops into Congo and conduct a joint military offensive aimed at disarming Rwandan Hutu militias who fled to Congo in the wake of Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

Eastern Congo has been wracked by violence since Rwanda's 1994 genocide spilled war across the border. Rwandan Hutu militias who participated in the 1994 massacres of more than 500 000 people in Rwanda have sought refuge in Congo.

- SAPA