Planning underway for UN military liaison team

The UN is preparing to deploy the first group of 90 military liaison officers and civilian staff as part of the plan to help the regional mediators of the DRC peace process implement last month's Lusaka ceasefire agreement, the Secretary-General's Deputy Spokesman, Manoel de Almeida e Silva, said on Thursday. The liaison officers will be deployed first in DRC, Rwanda and Uganda, he added. Another team will work with the Joint Military Commission (JMC) established under the accord to disarm the fighters and monitor the ceasefire and will be based wherever its headquarters are established. Its current base of is the Zambian capital, Lusaka. De Almeida e Silva said the UN was not yet planning to deploy further within the territory of the DRC until the ceasefire was signed by the (RCD rebel) parties who have not yet done so and the necessary security assurances had been obtained. IRIN sources said that, after budget approval, the liaison team could deploy within weeks, and that humanitarian staff would be deployed alongside. Normality begins to return to Kisangani Life in Kisangani was reported to be returning to normal on Thursday after fierce fighting earlier in the week between the Ugandan and Rwandan armies, with some shops open and civilians going about getting their lives back in order, news sources reported on Friday. Rwandan troops were reported to control most of the town after the fighting, despite the ceasefire agreement that both sides should return to the positions held before the outbreak began. The Kinshasa press, meanwhile, bitterly criticised the summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for its failure to advance the peace process or exert sufficient pressure on Uganda and Rwanda to tell the different RCD factions they support to sign the Lusaka accord, AFP news agency reported. Rwanda accused of deception over ceasefire Meanwhile, Wamba dia Wamba, leader of the Kisangani faction of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD), and Ugandan military sources claimed that Rwanda had used deception to take military advantage on Tuesday, launching a major assault in disregard of the agreed ceasefire while the Ugandan side was already abiding by it. The situation was understood to be tense in Kisangani, with elements of the Ugandan army itching to respond but under strict instructions to abide by the ceasefire. The Ugandan military said on Thursday that about 30 Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers had been confirmed dead and perhaps 120 injured, significantly fewer than earlier reported. "The truth is that nobody knows the exact total on either side. We don not know how many UPDF soldiers died; we don't know how many RPA (Rwanda Patriotic Army) soldiers. The Rwandese also don't know how many soldiers died on either side", the 'Monitor' newspaper on Friday quoted a Ugandan intelligence officer in Kisangani as saying. Church group launches appeal for Kisangani and Kasai Kisangani and Kasai have been targeted for relief projects by Action for Churches Together (ACT) in the areas of food security, building rehabilitation and improved health services. Citing widespread suffering among a large proportion of the population in need of food, medicines, health services and potable water, the Lutheran World Federation, Eglise du Christ au Congo (ECC), and The United Methodist Church planned to focus particularly on vulnerable groups such as orphans, the elderly, pregnant and lactating mothers, a $2.4 million appeal stated. Assistance would also be given to selected health centres and farmers, and the most severely affected schools rehabilitated, ACT added.