First round of police instructor training completed

The first round of training for police instructors by the United Nations was completed on Saturday in Kisangani, capital of Orientale Province in northeastern DRC.

The UN Mission in the DRC (known as MONUC) said 54 police trainers completed the course, which began on 29 July.

The newly trained instructors will now go on to train the policemen who will serve throughout Orientale Province and also facilitate the withdrawal from Kisangani of the pro-Rwandan rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), which controls about one-third of eastern DRC.

"This initiative is a manifestation of the particular attention that the UN Security Council has continued to give to the city of Kisangani," said the MONUC deputy force director, Roberto Martinelli.

For its part, RCD-Goma said the training marked an important step towards the demilitarisation of Kisangani, as has been called for many times by the UN Security Council.

"When a sufficient number of police officers have been trained to ensure the security of the people of Kisangani, the RCD will then respect its part of the contract [to demilitarise the city]," the RCD-Goma deputy head of foreign relations, Crispin Kabasele Cimanga, was quoted as telling MONUC.

In his latest report on MONUC, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan highlighted the need for improvements in the DRC's law enforcement practices throughout the country. "As far as possible, the police force will have to be professionalised in order to protect it from undue political influence, and to stress its civilian, non-military character," he said.

The police training is the result of the UN Security Council's demand for the demilitarisation of Kisangani, which has been the scene of repeated conflict, most recently on 14 May with fighting between the RCD-Goma and a breakaway faction.

A second round of the programme will begin on 12 September, with the training of another 54 police officers from Kisangani and other cities under the control of RCD-Goma.