Annan proposes force of over 5,000 peacekeepers

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed deploying a total force of 5,537 UN troops in the DRC, given the deteriorating situation in the country. In a report to the Security Council issued this week, he said the proposal was based on the assumption that the parties to the conflict would respect the Lusaka peace accord and the relevant Security Council resolutions. The force would be concentrated around four reinforced infantry battalions and located at four separate sites, identified provisionally as Mbandaka, Mbuji Mayi, Kisangani and a point yet to be determined in the southeast. According to the report, the military tasks of the expanded MONUC force would include military liaison, monitoring the cessation of hostilities, investigating ceasefire violations and verifying the disengagement of the various forces. He stressed the troops “would not serve as an interposition force nor would they be expected to extract military observers or civilian personnel by force”.