By Christof Maletsky
The Namibian (Windhoek)March 6, 2000
Windhoek - The United Kingdom's top envoy at the United Nations says the UN still needs DRC President Laurent Kabila's permission to deploy peacekeepers there. The UK's permanent representative on the UN Security Council, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, was in Windhoek at the end of last week for meetings with President Sam Nujoma and Prime Minister Hage Geingob. Addressing a media conference on Friday, Greenstock said the peace process was being made difficult by belligerents who "are just not listening to the international community". "But we still want to see action on the ground that bears out peace intentions. At the moment, there is no stable ceasefire on the ground. The UN also needs President Laurent Kabila's permission to deploy peacekeeping troops which has not happened. He wants to tell us where to deploy the troops," he said.
Greenstock said the UN Security Council has taken a "cautious" approach, describing the situation as a "chicken and egg problem". "All sides in the conflict have their own demands and it is not clear how we remove the blockages of the Lusaka agreement," he said. He denied allegations that the international community had been too slow to act on the Democratic Republic of Congo peace process.
Greenstock said the UN Security Council's recent decision to deploy 5,537 peace observers in the DRC and the New York talks, attended by seven Heads of State, were clear indications of the UN's commitment. Greenstock, a career diplomat, was a member of the UN delegation sent to the East Timor last year, which was led by Namibia's representative on the Security Council, Martin Andjaba.
