MONUC chief summons militia leader over attacks

The head of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, William Swing, summoned on Wednesday militia leader Thomas Lubanga to express his indignation over attacks by the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC) fighters against UN troops in the northeastern district of Ituri, Orientale Province, an official said.

"MONUC would not tolerate the concept of uncontrolled armed groups," Hamadoun Touré, the spokesman of the UN mission, said in a statement announcing Swing's move against Lubanga.

Swing told Lubanga that militia leaders would have to account for their troops' actions. "MONUC’s role in Ituri is to protect civilian populations and to restore peace," Toure said. "It will, therefore, continue using appropriate retaliatory means for enough is enough."

He announced that by March or April, MONUC would have deployed troops to several other areas in Ituri, including Mahagi and Aru in the northeast of Ituri.

UN News reported on Thursday that MONUC had blamed the militia attacks against its troops on a recently promoted UPC militia leader, Bosco Ntaganda, who it accused of summary executions of civilians, abductions and daily extortion.

"He is charged, among other things, with the summary executions of two people in Bunia in March 2003, kidnappings, rapes, barbaric acts on civilian populations, daily extortion of people's money and items in Ituri, illegal levying of taxes and other offences," UN News reported, quoting MONUC.

UN News reported that Swing had asked Lubanga to end Ntaganda's attacks on UN forces and local civilians. Lubanga appointed Ntaganda UPC's army chief of staff on 8 December 2003.

The latest of the attacks occurred on Wednesday when UPC militiamen opened fire on a Pakistani unit of MONUC in Nizi, 28 km north of Bunia, the main town in Ituri. Another group of UN peacekeepers, who were in a helicopter, were attacked by the UPC at Drodro and Iga-Barrière on 19 and 20 January, UN News reported.