November 16, 2001
"Excessive caution" by the United Nations in deploying peacekeepers is threatening the peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the foreign minister said in an interview Friday.
"This is the major threat to the DRC peace process today," Stan Mudenge told the state-run Herald newspaper. His comments come after the United Nations Security Council last week endorsed proposals to enlarge the UN peacekeeping force in the DRC, but insisted on conditions upon its redeployment eastwards into rebel-held areas.
The council said that the eastern town of Kindu must be demilitarised to allow the UN peacekeeping force, known by its French acronym MONUC, to set up a forward base there.
The council also insisted on the demilitarisation of the rebel-held city of Kisangani, the third-largest city in the DRC.
It said the disarmament and demobilisation of armed groups must be voluntary and "take place in a neutral environment".
"The Security Council, by adopting what it calls a step-by-step approach, continues to show excessive caution or hesitancy almost indistinguishable from lack of commitment and or confidence in the DRC peace process," Mudenge said.
"All those involved in the process ... are agreed that conditions are favourable for the deployment of UN peacekeepers."
Since the start of the conflict in the DRC in 1998, Zimbabwean soldiers, along with those of Namibia and Angola, have been fighting beside government forces against rebel groups backed by Uganda and Rwanda.
Following the start of the implementation of a 1999 peace accord earlier this year, Namibia has withdrawn all its troops while President Robert Mugabe says Zimbabwe is in the process of gradually withdrawing its forces.
At the height of the conflict, Zimbabwe had some 12,000 soldiers based in the DRC.
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