Government to battle increased crime in Kinshasa and other cities

The national unity government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) announced on Saturday that it would be taking a number of measures to fight increases in crime in the capital, Kinshasa, as well as in other cities across the vast central African country. This would include the dispatch of reinforced and mixed patrols comprising elements of all former belligerents - the former Kinshasa government; the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) and other former rebel movements; and the Mayi-Mayi militias – Vice-President Azarias Ruberwa said at a news conference in the capital, Kinshasa. Ruberwa, leader of RCD-Goma - now party to the Congo's two-year power-sharing transitional government - is responsible for the defence and security portfolios in his capacity as one of four vice-presidents of the new government. "The government has decided to disarm all those illegally in possession of firearms, and to resolve the problem of payment of police and soldiers" in an effort to reduce criminal acts by the latter under the pretext that they have not been paid, Ruberwa said. He reported that the crime rate in the capital had risen considerably, with at least one instance of murder being reported daily in Kinshasa. Last week, the government gave the police force a number of jeeps to enable them conduct night patrols, while a private mobile telephone company provided the police with a series of emergency numbers for civilians to report crimes. Ruberwa said the increase in crime was due largely to the prevalence of illegal arms among the civilian population, trying to take advantage of any post-war instability. However, he said that police and soldiers were also implicated. He said that the situation of increased crime was nearly the same in all large cities across the country. "We have decided to provide all police and soldiers with food rations, regardless of where they came from [ie, former government, RCD-Goma, MLC, Mayi-Mayi militias, etc.] - or more than 200,000 people. This will be an act of sovereignty so that all police and soldiers recognise their allegiance to the Kinshasa government," Ruberwa said. Some 700 soldiers of the UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, have been patrolling Kinshasa since June. MONUC spokesman Hamadoun Toure said the force would be responsible, until December, for helping to secure the city and to protect the members and institutions of the transitional national government.