Global Policy Forum

By Dino Mahtani

France spearheaded a multinational mission sent to Bunia in June as a temporary measure to protect civilians from warring tribal militia while the United Nations put together a bigger peacekeeping force. The United Nations has now begun to build up a bigger troop presence in Bunia, aiming to prevent a repeat of past clashes in the town when the French pull out and to provide security to the wider Ituri region.

Fighting between rival ethnic Hema and Lendu militia and militia attacks on civilians in Ituri has killed 50,000 people since 1999, forcing half a million more to flee their homes. ''Ituri has been the site of atrocities that defy understanding,'' said William Swing, head of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). ''Everybody has lost in this war except for merchants of war, arms dealers and exploiters of resources,'' he said, speaking after a handover ceremony in the town.

So far about 1,200 Bangladeshi troops have deployed in Bunia, supplementing a Uruguayan contingent that failed to stop the killings that engulfed the town earlier this year. The total number of U.N. troops in Ituri is expected to be close to 5,000, almost four times as many as were deployed by the mainly French EU force, which succeeded in restoring an improved sense of security in Bunia.

Despite the beefed up U.N. operation, many residents in Bunia said they were worried about the French withdrawal. ''We prefer the French to the Bangladeshis, we got on very well with French. We are starting to get scared that the militia might start fighting again since the French are leaving,'' said Ndivito Muhindo, a 43-year-old taxi driver. ''The French maintained peace without really having to fight that much. I doubt that U.N. forces can keep the peace even if they do fight,'' said another resident, Jerome Kabongoli. ''A lot of people are asking why the French mandate was not extended instead of bringing these Bangladeshis,'' he added.

TOUGHER MANDATE

The EU force's U.N. mandate did not require it to secure the rest of Ituri, a vast sprawl of wilderness about the size of Sierra Leone where militias continued to kill, loot and rape. The United Nations force that took over on Monday aims to expand its operations to remoter parts of the region -- a task seen as all-important by terrified residents. The new U.N. force has a stronger mandate than U.N. troops deployed in the town before the French arrived -- giving it broader powers to use firepower to complete its mission. French forces have handed over various checkpoints to the Bangladeshi troops and have already withdrawn most of their 1,200 soldiers from Bunia. The last French troops are expected to leave by September 15.

Human rights groups say Rwanda, Uganda and the Kinshasa government all back rival ethnic militia in Ituri in their attempts to dominate an area rich in gold and diamonds. The fighting in Ituri has overshadowed the formation of a transitional government in Kinshasa, comprising various participants in a civil war in the former Zaire that killed about three million people since 1998.

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