UN teams go to the field

UN technical survey teams left Kinshasa for the field on Thursday, after agreement on their deployment was reached Wednesday during a meeting between UN Special Envoy for the DRC Moustapha Niasse and DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila. A spokeswoman for the UN observer mission MONUC, Diane Bailey, told IRIN the teams had left for the rebel-held areas of Gbadolite, Goma, Kisangani and Bukavu, and the government-held area of Kananga. In total, 13 sites are to be visited. The technical survey teams will assess the various areas logistically for the eventual deployment of UN military liaison officers, whose job will include monitoring ceasefire violations.

Regional analysts attribute the apparent breakthrough to Niasse’s visit to the DRC. His visit has been described as very successful, and one analyst told IRIN the international “political presence” had been missing. The visit served to “break the ice” and reassured the government of a collaboration and that it had “something to work with”. The UN personnel had been grounded in Kinshasa for weeks, with the government refusing to provide flight clearances.