UN survey team again fails to get clearance

A second attempt to deploy the technical survey team of MONUC, the UN observer mission to the DRC, failed on Tuesday because security assurances had still not been received by the authorities, sources in Kinshasa told IRIN. Kinshasa “continues to be very suspicious about MONUC” and it now seemed very clear that it believed UN military liaison officers (MLOs) should be deployed in rebel-controlled areas only.

It was foreseen that, with clearance and security guarantees having been received from Rwanda and the Goma faction of the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD), a survey team would be deployed in Goma by Thursday, IRIN sources said. Urgent needs had been identified in the Kivus, both in relation to the peace process and humanitarian interventions, but Kinshasa’s reaction to MONUC’s planned deployment there was not yet known, they added.