November 5, 2003
The United Nations has protested to the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after being prevented from inspecting a plane it suspected of bringing weapons into the volatile east of the country. "MONUC (the UN Mission in the DRC) has protested vigorously to the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of Congo for having prevented its verification assignment in Kamina," it said in a statement.
MONUC sent a team of military observers to the military base in Kamina, in Sud Kivu Province, which borders Rwanda, after a plane crashed on takeoff there at the weekend. The type of plane was not specified in the statement but MONUC said it was operated by a Russian crew.
"There are allegations that the plane was carrying weapons for armed groups in Sud Kivu," MONUC said, stressing that the UN resolution defining MONUC's mandate imposed an embargo "on the supply of weapons and military equipment to all active armed groups in the DRC".
MONUC said its observers had been "prevented from approaching the site, which was guarded by soldiers armed with AK-47 rifles and a number of civilians". They had also been unable to locate the Russian crew or a DRC officer known to be aboard the aircraft.
The authorities in Kamina insist the plane crash, in which no one was injured, was a minor incident "involving a civil aircraft with no secret cargo". But MONUC said its observers could neither confirm nor deny this version of events and demanded unfettered access to the site of the accident so it could ascertain exactly what had happened.
MONUC is monitoring a ceasefire that took effect in the DRC in April to end a regional war that broke out in 1998 when rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda sought to overthrow the Kinshasa government. The war drew in half a dozen African countries at its height and claimed an estimated 2.5 million lives, either directly through combat or indirectly through famine and disease.
The presence of armed foreign groups in eastern DRC remains an issue of concern, as seen with clashes late last month between the tribal Mai-Mai warriors and Rwandan rebels in the Mwenga region. There has also been ongoing fighting in northeastern DRC despite the establishment of an interim government in July.
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