UN's DRC action welcomed
Shaun Benton
3 November 2005
South Africa welcomed military action taken by the United Nations and Congolese forces this week against rebel forces operating in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said in Cape Town on Wednesday that foreign armed groups, including members of the Interahamwe Hutu militia responsible for the genocide in neighbouring Rwanda some years ago, had been "a constant source of destabilisation in eastern Congo".
"For the first time, action is now being taken" against these rebel groups, Pahad said, adding that he hoped they would still "come in" to the peace process in the DRC that is supported by the African Union, the United Nations as well as the United States and neighbouring countries.
The UN news agency IRIN reported that UN and Congolese troops destroyed five rebel camps on Monday during a joint operation in the Virunga National Park, eastern DRC, citing a military spokesman for
the UN mission there.
'Difficult process'
South Africa currently has 859 troops supporting the UN mission in the DRC, as well as 28 SANDF members working with the Congo-Kinshasa government to integrate its armed forces, which remains on ongoing and difficult process, journalists were told.
South African troops appeared not to be part of the action taken on Monday, which IRIN reported involved "some 500 UN peacekeepers from the Indian contingent and 2 000 Congolese army soldiers".
No casualties were reported and the militiamen who came under attack exchanged fire before escaping, according to the IRIN military source.
The operation followed the expiry of the deadline set by the Congolese army for all local and foreign rebel groups – including the Forces démocratiques pour la libération du Rwanda rebel group and the different Congolese Mayi-Mayi militias operating there - to leave the area by October 27.
Elections 'next year'
Pahad said that elections in the DRC, postponed - mostly for logistical reasons - "have to take place next year".
So far, they have been scheduled for March/April 2006.
Preparations for these elections were now at an "advanced stage", Pahad said, but added that "insufficient funding" remained a major obstacle to the successful implementation of the peace process.
Other major obstacles to a more complete resolution of a peace process there were "challenges in the form of safety and security where foreign armed groups mainly from neighbouring Rwanda have infiltrated that part of the country, causing instability among the local population", Pahad said.
Mandate extended
According to pressure group International Rescue Committee, civilians in the eastern part of the DRC continue to be terrorised by the rampant brutality of rebel forces operating there, with widespread slaughter,
executions, torture, rape and mutilation seemingly common practices.
The war that was at its height from 1998 to 2004 has seen about 3.8-million people killed, including from war-induced starvation and disease.
Earlier this week the UN Security Council was reported to have extended the mandate of the UN Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo to 30 September 2006.
Source: BuaNews
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