Security Council calls for increased cooperation

The UN Security Council has called for increased cooperation and confidence within and between countries in the Great Lakes region, saying it could assist in, but was unable to solve, their crises. "The question of building trust and confidence amongst countries in the region is very important. The Security Council can help, but it can't do the job for them," Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, France's ambassador to the UN, told reporters on Sunday in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. De la Sabliere headed a Security Council mission in a six-nation African visit that ended on Sunday in Uganda. The delegation was to consolidate the political processes aimed at resolving the conflicts in the Great Lakes region. It visited Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. He said Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa had played a positive role in trying to resolve conflicts in Burundi and the DRC, and that the subregion could only progress with the help of "wise" heads of state. Of the mission's experience in Bunia, the troubled town in northeastern Congo, de la Sabliere said that the delegates were "shocked" by what they saw during their visit. However, he shrugged off criticism that the UN had taken too long to step in and prevent the killing of at least 400 civilians in recent weeks. "The UN is doing a lot," he said. "MONUC [the UN Mission in the Congo] is an important assistance given by the UN to the region and, at the same time, the Security Council reacted very swiftly and decided to send forces [to Bunia] with a very strong mandate." He added, "I think the fact that the Security Council sent this mission to Central Africa shows its commitment to help solve the problem." He said that the French-led multinational emergency force of 1,500 that is currently being deployed in Bunia was "enough" and a "robust force that could do the job". The Congo has been embroiled in a bloody civil war since 1998, when Rwanda and Uganda went into the country, backing rebels opposed to the then-president Laurent Kabila, who, in turn, was supported by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The foreign troops have since left, but government forces, various rebel groups and militias are still involved in the conflict. While in Tanzania, the UN delegation also met with Pierre Nkurunziza, leader of the Conseil national des forces pour la defence de la democratie-Forces pour la defence de la democratie (CNDD-FDD), the largest Hutu faction still fighting in Burundi's decade-long civil war, despite a ceasefire signed in December 2002. "We told them that they had to engage in the process which they signed up to in Arusha [Tanzania, in 2000]. There is no other option of further frameworks," John Negroponte, the US ambassador to the UN, told IRIN. President Mkapa joined the appeal to both sides, but especially CNDD-FDD, to implement the ceasefire they signed six months ago. "We have tried to use our influence to hasten the observation of the ceasefire in Burundi," he said "but, in particular, we have told the CNDD-FDD that they have no justification in carrying on fighting and they need to show more earnestness." Meanwhile, officials from the Tanzanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said that a Burundian government delegation and the CNDD-FDD met regional experts in Dar es Salaam on Saturday and Sunday in an attempt to establish all the "outstanding issues and find a way forward so the ceasefire can be implemented". The meetings were described by the officials as "preparations" for another regional summit of heads of state on Burundi, though no date has been set so far. Despite ceasefire agreements signed in 2002 with three of the four Hutu rebel factions opposed to the government, the civil war in Burundi, which began in 1993 following the assassination of the country's first democratically elected Hutu president, continues.