Soldiers arrive in DRC

The head of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) has welcomed the first batch of 130 Senegalese troops who arrived in Kananga in the central province of Kasai Occidental on Wednesday. The Senegalese will be first Guard Unit to be deployed in government-held territory. The other half of the Senegalese contingent is expected to arrive on 6 April, bringing the total to 260, MONUC said in a statement. A second Senegalese unit of some 280 troops is due in May for deployment to Mbandaka, 587 km northeast of Kinshasa, a MONUC Sector Headquarter. Like all UN guard units their mission is “to guard UN facilities, equipment and supplies,” MONUC said. They will enhance the ability of military observer teams to carry out their primary task of verifying the disengagement of the belligerents, the statement added. The Senegalese join a Uruguayan contingent already in the Congo. A contingent of 200 Tunisian troops is also due in May and will guard the MONUC headquarters and the IVECO Logistics Base.