Calls made for more robust MONUC mandate

A special UN Security Council mission and several regional players have called for reinforcing the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, MONUC, especially in eastern regions where fighting has recently killed hundreds and displaced thousands, UN News reported on Wednesday. The French ambassador to the UN, Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, who headed the council mission that returned to New York on Monday from a week-long six-country tour of Africa’s Great Lakes region, said the council should study Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recommendations in his special report on arming MONUC with a more robust mandate. De La Sabliere said that in Bunia, in the war-torn Ituri District of northeastern DRC, deployment of an emergency multinational force mandated by the council at the end of May had occurred more rapidly than planned, and had already led to increased security. The Rwandan ambassador to the UN, Pascal Nyamulinda, also urged the council to strengthen MONUC. He termed as "categorically false" allegations that Rwandan forces were operating in Ituri. Speaking for the DRC, Ambassador Nduku Booto noted Rwanda's influence on the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) movement, and urged that MONUC be strengthened. Tanzania's ambassador, Liberta Mulamula, said that prospects for lasting peace in the DRC would depend on the degree to which the council could stand up to the process. She urged the council to "walk the extra mile" with the Congolese people in their long march to peace and stability. Meanwhile in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, Presidents Denis Sassou-Nguesso and Joseph Kabila of the DRC also called on the UN to upgrade the MONUC mandate from one of peacekeeping to one of peace enforcement, DRC presidential spokesperson Mulegwa Zihindula told IRIN. Both leaders praised the arrival of the French-led multinational force in Ituri, and said they supported the idea of a regional peace and development conference.