Peacekeepers needed for DRC

2005-01-23 13:19

Addis Ababa - The African Union has begun consultations with member states on a planned peacekeeping force for the troubled east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, an AU official said.

"We are involved in informal consultations with a number of (member) states likely to provide troops," Said Djinnit, the pan-African body's top security official, said on Saturday.

He added that the force would be made up of troops from only one or two countries, in order to ensure its coherency, but did not say which countries the AU was consulting.

Speaking to AFP by phone, Djinnit added that the AU was also looking at ways of funding the force, and expressed gratitude for an offer from the European Union.

The force will be tasked with disarming mainly ethnic Hutu rebels who fled to the east of the DRC from neighbouring Rwanda after taking part in the genocidal massacres of 1994 in that country.

- AFP