Arrival of patrol boats important step - Annan

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday reiterated at a Security Council meeting in New York that the arrival of patrol boats for UN peacekeepers marked an important step in the reopening of the Congo river to navigation, a UN statement said. “We are now faced with a genuine window of opportunity for peace and security in the DRC,” he said. “An important signal has been the re-opening of the river network in the DRC for humanitarian and commercial exchanges between Kinshasa and Kisangani,” he added. The fast boats will be used by a Uruguayan riverine unit which is expected to arrive early next month. The first barge leaving Mbandaka for Kisangani was scheduled for 7 June.

Annan also commented on the obstacles facing the UN peacekeeping operation in the DRC (MONUC). “The DRC - a vast and impoverished country devastated by conflict and with virtually no infrastructure - presents an immense operational, administrative and logistical challenge to any outside mission,” he noted. He said that a “major challenge” ahead for the mission would be the process of withdrawal of all foreign troops, and the disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration, repatriation and resettlement of armed groups. He also noted that parties would be finalising plans for the withdrawal “in the near future”, and that planning for the MONUC operations had already begun.