Still committed to DRC mission

South Africa is still committed to sending a military technical unit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of a UN peacekeeping mission to the Central African country, a foreign affairs official told IRIN on Wednesday. Foreign affairs spokesman Daniel Ngoepe said South Africa’s position has not changed despite media reports quoting DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila as saying UN troops would not be needed to deploy in the capital, Kinshasa and Mbandaka in the west. “South Africa has a 120-strong technical unit ready to be deployed as soon as the UN Secretary-General so directs,” Ngoepe said. He added that South Africa could not comment on Kabila’s reported remarks as they have not been communicated to the government. “South Africa’s commitment to the resolution of conflict in the Great Lakes region is well-known,” said Ngoepe. “We will participate in these efforts in the DRC as soon as conditions are conducive to do so.” The UN Secretary-General’s spokesman, Fred Eckhard, on Monday said the UN had delayed the deployment of a Tunisian support unit in the DRC following Kabila’s comments at the weekend. The conflict in the DRC pits the government and its regional allies against Rwandan and Ugandan-backed rebels. The UN Security Council resolution of 24 February, which authorised the deployment of 500 military observers and 5,000 UN troops to protect them, insisted that the parties to the conflict provide “firm and credible assurances” on security and freedom of movement of UN personnel, prior to their deployment. The Tunisian unit would have been the first armed unit to deploy. Kabila considers that the deployment of UN peacekeepers in government-held areas would compromise the country’s sovereignty. But it is also presumed that access to Mbandaka is being denied because of its importance to the government’s military campaign against the Ugandan-supported rebel Mouvement de liberation du congo (MLC) in Equateur, diplomatic and military sources told IRIN.