Global Policy Forum

By Jerome Hule

New York - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said that although he is anxious to move as quickly and as practicably as possible on the deployment of peace monitors in the Democratic Republic of Congo, there is a need to cautiously approach the task. Questioned Tuesday at a news conference about when the 500 observers and 5,000 peacekeepers, which the Security Council authorised in February, would be deployed, he said he could not yet make that determination until his officials conclude a mission to the region.

This week, the UN Under-secretary General for peacekeeping operations, Bernard Miyet, along with other UN officials, is expected to tour countries involved in the Congolese conflict. Annan said the officials would work out practical arrangement on the ground in respect of UN deployment plans. "We are asking the parties who signed the Lusaka agreement to work with us in implementing the agreement," he added. "We have asked them to demonstrate their will to live up to the agreement they signed."

The Security Council authorised the 5,500 peacekeeping mission February, but asked that its deployment be done only after there were guarantees of their security and that parties to the conflict comply with the terms of the cease-fire agreement they signed in July 1999 in Lusaka, Zambia. Among other provisions, the agreement asked the warring parties to cease hostilities and requested for UN peacekeepers to help in its implementation. But the UN was not swift on authorising the mission ostensibly because of continuing violations of the cease-fire by parties to the accord. To kick-start the process for the authorisation of the mission, the council met on the DRC crisis in January during which leaders of the countries involved in the conflict participated. The leaders then called on the UN to speed up action to authorise deployment of the peacekeeping mission.

Rebels, backed by Rwanda and Uganda, launched a rebellion in August 1998 to oust the government of President Laurent Kabila. But Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola soon dispatched forces to the rescue of the Kabila's regime. The Lusaka agreement requires that all foreign forces withdraw from Congo.