UN “weighing up intervention forces”

At the United Nations in New York, there was “a lot of diplomatic activity behind the scenes as the players align themselves” for the DRC debate opening on 24 January, a diplomatic source told IRIN on Monday. While it was impossible to “second-guess the deliberations of the Security Council”, indications were that the size and deployment strategy of a UN force was being deliberated, he said. The options being explored were essentially: a dispersed effort of several hundred observers with local protection throughout the country; or, a more concentrated force deploying in one or two key areas to achieve a local disengagement which it was hoped would then become more general.

The Security Council debate should give a better idea of the direction being taken, the diplomat added. Meanwhile, it appeared that the presentation of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s report to the Security Council on the current situation would not take place on Monday as scheduled, Annan’s spokesman Fred Eckhard said in a press briefing on Friday.