UN advance party to assemble military liaison team in Nairobi

In the wake of the RCD signing, the UN on Thursday dispatched a three-person advance team, due to arrive in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Friday, to pave the way for the deployment of the first phase of military personnel to be dispatched to the region. The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations team is expected to assemble within a week the initial group of 26 UN military liaison officers. Four members of the team will support the JMC in Lusaka, while six members will set up an advance UN headquarters in Kinshasa, a UN statement said. The remaining 16 will be dispatched to regional capitals of the signatories of the ceasefire accord, but initially to Bujumbura, Kigali, Kinshasa, Kampala, Windhoek and Harare. The dispatch of these officers is the first phase of a three-stage plan for UN support of the Lusaka peace accord outlined by Secretary General Kofi Annan in his 15 July report to the Security Council.