UN begins training police instructors

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) began training 54 civilian police instructors on human rights in the eastern city of Kisangani, capital of Orientale Province, on Monday.

This would be the first of two five-week courses, UN News reported. MONUC's civilian police commissioner, Gen Gerardo Chaumont, told IRIN that the phase would be a "trial balloon for phase two", when another 54 instructors would be trained. "If we succeed, we will extend this training to other cities," he said.

Once trained, the instructors will train the policemen who will subsequently serve throughout Orientale Province and also facilitate the withdrawal from Kisangani of the pro-Rwandan rebel group, the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD-Goma), which controls the province, including Kisangani.

In his latest report on MONUC, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan highlighted the need for improvements in Congo's law enforcement practices throughout the country. "As far as possible, the police force will have to be professionalised in order to protect it from undue political influence, and to stress its civilian, non-military character," he said.

The police training is the result of the UN Security Council's demand for the demilitarisation of Kisangani, which on 14 May was the scene of fighting between the RCD-Goma and a breakaway faction.

However, the government in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, remains guarded about the situation which will obtain once MONUC withdraws from Oriental Province. "We think that the RCD-Goma and Rwanda have placed Rwandan policemen among the trainees," Irung Awan, the Congolese deputy defence minister, told IRIN

The future police instructors were selected for training by UN staff from a list provided by RCD-Goma, UN News reported.