Global Policy Forum

by Priscilla Cheung

The Security Council endorsed a new phase in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo on Wednesday designed to focus on the complete withdrawal of foreign troops and disarmament of combatants.

Underscoring the difficulty in restoring peace, the U.N. special envoy to Congo, Amos Namanga Ngongi, said, however, that Rwandan and Ugandan armies have been reinforcing their troops in eastern Congo despite calls for withdrawal.

Peacekeepers sent earlier to Kamina in southwestern Congo to demobilize and repatriate Rwandan rebels also have been unable to do their job without the Congolese government's cooperation, Ngongi told the Security Council. "The peace process is making headway, but has not reached the point of no return," Ngongi said.

Congo's civil war broke out in August 1998 when Rwanda and Uganda backed Congolese rebels seeking to oust then-President Laurent Kabila. Troops from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola now back the government, and Burundi joined the fray to fight Burundian rebels based in eastern Congo.

A 1999 cease-fire accord, which was repeatedly violated, gained momentum after Joseph Kabila became president in January when his father, Laurent Kabila, was assassinated. The U.N. monitored cease-fire has largely held this year despite continued fighting in eastern Congo.

At the end of Wednesday's meeting, the Security Council issued a statement supporting recommendations by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to initiate the third phase of the peacekeeping mission.

In a report submitted last week to the council, Annan proposed maintaining the U.N. force's authorized strength of 5,537 troops - including 500 military observers. The new phase is part of a step-by-step program that aims to bring the total withdrawal of all foreign forces in Congo, as well as the disarmament, demobilization and repatriation of armed groups.

"This is the time for the parties to address the most difficult issue in this process: the disarmament and demobilization of the armed groups," said James Cunningham, the U.S. deputy ambassador.

Leonard She Okitundu, Congo's foreign minister, expressed his government's "firm commitment" to help the peacekeepers. He added that in eastern Congo, "the situation is disquieting and should be the focus of the Security Council."

Martin Andjaba, the U.N. ambassador from Namibia, which this year pulled all its 2,000 troops out of Congo, said although his government supports the U.N. mission, the step-by-step plan is "too cautious and limited in scope, given the size of the country and the demand of the peacekeeping operation itself."

Congo's war has claimed 2.5 million lives - mostly civilian victims of war-related hunger and disease.

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