MONUC chief negotiates deployment authorisation in Goma

MONUC commander Colonel James Ellory visited the eastern rebel-held town of Goma on Thursday to get RCD authorisation to deploy there, MONUC spokesman Lt-Col Pierre Massart said on Friday. He said that, with the government having refused MONUC leave to deploy in Lubumbashi and Mbandaka, RCD was also reluctant to have MONUC deploy in the areas which it controlled. Ellory had gone “to clarify the situation” on the deployment of military observers. Massart said Ellory was on his way back to Kinshasa so the outcome of his trip was not known, though Reuters news agency quoted RCD spokesman Kin-Kiey Mulumba as saying it expected four UN observers in Goma on Friday. The RCD had told Ellory of “30 ceasefire violations by Kabila’s forces since 25 September,” Mulumba added.