Border verification teams formed

Congolese and Ugandan authorities, under the coordination of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have established a system to monitor and eliminate border violations between the two countries, a UN official told IRIN on Friday. "The two countries have created two mixed verification teams that are responsible for watching the borders," said Aluka Mensah, a public information officer for the UN mission, known by its French acronym, MONUC. "The mission will be deployed in the field to investigate all alleged border violations," he added. The verification teams would be expected to monitor and report the activities of armed rebel groups operating in border regions that have been demilitarised under a bilateral security agreement between the two countries, he said. "Boarder surveillance will also help us to stop the transnational trafficking of arms and munitions to Congolese armed groups with contacts in Uganda," Mensah said. The announcement of the formation of the verification teams was made on Tuesday in the town of Beni, in the eastern Congolese province of North Kivu, during a meeting of security officials from both countries. Team members will comprise two army officers from each country as well as MONUC representatives. "MONUC will serve primarily as a coordinator and observer, they will be in charge of logistical assistance in terms of moving the teams around as they will need to be on the scene within 48 hours of a border violation allegation," Mensah said. In 2003, Uganda and DRC signed a peace accord in which Kampala withdrew 12,000 soldiers from the Congo, cutting off several rebel movements of the Kinshasa administration. Under the accord, a system of border surveillance was to have been in place to prevent incursions into Uganda from DRC. "This is a first step towards a full peace accord between our two countries, but we will not hesitate to deploy our troops if need be," Claude Salumu, an official in the Congolese Ministry of Regional Cooperation, said. Under the agreement signed in Beni, military leaders from the two countries are expected to hold meetings in either Kampala or Kinshasa, every three months. In addition, intelligence services from both countries are expected to meet once a month in either Kasee, in Uganda, or in Beni. Mensah said two Ugandan rebel movements, the National Army for Liberation of Uganda and the Allied Democratic Front, remain active in eastern DRC near the Ugandan border. "Nobody actually knows the exact number of the rebels because many have been killed during the last ten years," he said. "At the same time, the groups continue to recruit new members from various camps scattered in the Ruwenzori Mountains, a Ugandan stronghold."