Security Council expected to act "soon" to send emergency force to Bunia

The UN Security Council is expected to take action "possibly as early as Friday" on a draft resolution to deploy an emergency force to Bunia, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UN News reported on Wednesday.

A statement released by Council president Munir Akram said a draft resolution on the authorisation of a multi-national force was circulated at a meeting of the 15-nation body.

"There was unanimous support in the Council for the secretary-general's proposal to deploy such a force," Akram said, adding that the draft resolution would be adopted as soon as certain conditions were fulfilled.

Akram said the Council condemned the "recent violence and atrocities" committed in the DRC, especially the "brutal" murder of two military observers with the UN Mission to the DRC, known as MONUC. About 700 MONUC soldiers are in currently in Bunia, but they were unable to prevent the fighting between ethnic Hema and Lendu militias which broke out on 7 May after the withdrawal of Ugandan troops that had been occupying Bunia. At least 300 people, many of them civilians, died.

Akram told reporters at UN headquarters in New York that the mandate of the proposed force would chiefly be to restore and preserve peace in the troubled region and that he believed the mandate would be "robust enough", UN News said.

"Our only concern, of course, regards financing and logistical support, and we are awaiting confirmation on that," Akram said.

France has said it will lead an emergency force which would remain in Bunia until 1 September, when a larger contingent of UN peacekeepers from Bangladesh is scheduled to arrive. South Africa, Pakistan and Nigeria are reported to be considering sending troops, and the EU is expected to decide next week whether it can contribute, news agencies reported.

UN News quoted France's ambassador to the UN, Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, on Wednesday as saying that France's involvement depended on several conditions, chiefly that the emergency force was authorised under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, and that its mandate was spelt out precisely.

"The mandate should be to stabilise and maintain the security and humanitarian situation in Bunia and to protect the airport and refugee camps there, and if necessary the population in the immediate vicinity," de La Sabliere said.

Another condition, de La Sabliere said, was that the Council insist on the support of countries in the Great Lakes region, not only the DRC government which had requested a force be sent, but also Rwanda and Uganda.