UN mission to stay in DRC

2007-12-21 22:39

United Nations - The Security Council has decided to extend the mandate of the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for another year and keep the force at its current strength.

The 15-member body unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution on Friday to "extend the mandate and capacity of MONUC (the French acronym for the sprawling UN mission)" until December 31 2008.

Until that date, MONUC should continue to field "up to 17 030 military personnel, 760 military observers, 391 police personnel and six formed police units comprising up to 125 personnel each", Resolution 1794 said.

Last May, the council had asked UN chief Ban Ki-moon to submit proposals for a gradual reduction of the force.

But UN officials are growing increasingly alarmed by recent heavy fighting in DRC's Nord Kivu province between government troops and forces loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda.

Last week, UN chief Ban Ki-moon also called on Nkunda loyalists to lay down their arms and noted that MONUC backed Kinshasa's "efforts to establish legitimate state authority in the eastern DRC, and to meet its commitments under the Nairobi Communique".

The presence of the armed rebels, most notably (FDLR), whom Kigali accuses Kinshasa of backing, has long strained ties between Kinshasa and Kigali.

Rwanda accuses some of the FDLR rebels, estimated to number 6 000, of taking part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which the United Nations says resulted in some 800 000 dead, mostly Tutsi.

Rwanda in turn denies accusations that it is supporting Nkunda, an ethnic Tutsi who claims he is protecting DRC's Tutsi population, against government troops in the eastern DRC.

- AFP