The Republic of Congo’s (RoC) permanent representative to the UN, Basile Ikouebe, has expressed serious concern over the humanitarian situation along his country’s border with the DRC. In a letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, he stressed that worsening hostilities between DRC government forces and those of the rebel Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) had resulted in ever-increasing numbers of refugees fleeing into his country. Among his concerns were the fact that river traffic in the Liranga area had been halted and RoC today was “destitute” and “helpless” to deal with the influx of over 40,000 refugees. “The UN has nobody to verify what is happening in the conflict zone,” his letter pointed out. “MONUC is not deployed in the RoC even though this country is dramatically experiencing the consequences of war next door.” He urged the UN, on behalf of his government, to take all the appropriate measures to deal with the consequences of the DRC war on RoC.
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