June 15, 2001
The UN Security Council voted unanimously to keep U.N. peacekeepers in Congo for another year, expressing satisfaction Friday that a cease-fire in the country's 2-year civil war is holding. The 15-member council condemned recent incursions by armed groups into Rwanda and Burundi and stressed that peace in Congo "should not be achieved at the expense of peace in Burundi," which has been engulfed in a 7-year civil war.
The resolution adopted by the council backs Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recommendation to maintain the U.N. force's authorized strength of 5,537 troops - including 500 military observers. There are currently 2,400 troops in Congo, but Annan said he expects that will increase to its authorized maximum as the next phase in the peace process - demobilization and withdrawal of foreign combatants - gets under way.
The war in Congo erupted in August 1998 when Rwanda, Uganda and their Congolese rebel allies took up arms against then-President Laurent Kabila. Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia poured thousands of troops and military hardware into Congo in support of Kabila.
A 1999 cease-fire accord, which was repeatedly violated, gained momentum following Kabila's Jan. 16 assassination and the succession of his son, Joseph, to the presidency. Since then, most belligerents have pulled back their forces from front lines and the United Nations has deployed troops to guard installations and equipment used by unarmed observers monitoring the cease-fire.
