July 24, 2000
The United Nations said Monday it has postponed deployment of its first armed units to the Congo after the government said it didn't wanted gun-toting U.N. forces in parts of the country.
U.N. officials said that by refusing to allow in an armed contingent of Tunisian troops, Congo President Laurent Kabila was reneging on the deal for deployment of the 5,537-strong U.N. observer mission throughout the country.
"The deployment of the Tunisian unit cannot take place unless the government provides the necessary guarantees of cooperation with it," U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
Kabila said Friday that the U.N. Mission in Congo, or MONUC, shouldn't insist on deploying armed troops to the capital, Kinshasa, and another government-held city, Mbandaka. "Now that the government has saved Mbandaka, we don't need to be defended by the MONUC any more," he said.
The Security Council authorized the peacekeeper mission to oversee a shaky cease-fire signed by Kabila and his allies, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia, and the rebels, who are backed by Rwanda and Uganda.
U.N. officials noted that Kabila's comments followed another refusal by his government to allow a South African specialized unit to deploy and beef up the U.N. presence in the northern city of Kisangani, which was the site of clashes between Rwandan and Ugandan forces last month.
The United Nations was to have moved more troops into the city after Rwanda and Uganda agreed to demilitarize and move their forces out.
