October 13, 2000
The UN Security Council decided Friday to keep a small UN observer force in the Democratic Republic of Congo for two months in an apparent last chance for the warring parties to make peace. The 15 council members voted unanimously for a resolution to extend the force, known by its French acronym MONUC, from the end of its current mandate on Sunday until December 15.
The resolution recalled a report by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan which said the warring parties should use the brief extension of the mandate "to relaunch the peace process." Their failure to do so, Annan warned, would make it difficult to justify keeping the force in DRCongo at its current level of 245 troops, let alone increase it to more than 5,500 as he had recommended earlier this year.
US political counselor Mark Minton told the council "there will be no further deployment of UN personnel" until the parties had proved their commitment to a peace agreement signed on July 10, 1999, in Lusaka.
The agreement was signed by President Laurent Kabila of DRCongo and the leaders of the five African countries which have intervened militarily for or against him. The two major rebel groups signed it a month later. MONUC was set up in December to monitor the ceasefire, but has been unable to carry out more than minimal routine tasks.
Minton recalled that Kabila's government had "yet to implement an acceptable arrangement to permit unimpeded movement of UN officials" in areas under its control. In rebel-held parts of eastern DRC, hundreds of people were killed in cross-fire in June when rebel forces and their Ugandan and Rwandan sponsors fought for their city of Kisangani, the third largest in the country.
Kabila has also ignored calls to hold political talks with the rebels and expressed his opposition to the international facilitator, Ketumile Mesire, the former president of Botswana. In its resolution, the council deplored "the continuation of hostilities in DRCongo, the lack of cooperation with the United Nations, and the lack of progress on the national dialogue."
On August 23, the council had extended MONUC's mandate for 45 days, instead of the customary six months, to allow for diplomatic efforts to bring the belligerents together and save the mission.
Before Friday's vote was taken, Minton said: "We have just 60 days in which to renew our own efforts to encourage a recommitment by the parties to peace and stability in the DRC." He added that "if efforts to block MONUC's mission continue, and should the parties fail to demonstrate their commitment to the peace process, we will have little choice but to review closely the utility and purpose of a continued UN presence" in DRCongo
