- The UN Security Council is considering Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for "decisive action," which may result in the deployment of an emergency force to help stabilise the volatile situation in the town of Bunia, in north-eastern Congo Kinshasa (DRC). A decision could come already on Friday (tomorrow), the Council says.
In a statement to the press following consultations on war-ravaged Congo Kinshasa, current UN Security Council President, Munir Akram of Pakistan, said a draft resolution had been circulated on the authorisation of a multinational force to be deployed in Bunia, where a fierce inter-ethnic power struggle has been raging for weeks.
- There was unanimous support in the Council for the Secretary-General's proposal to deploy such a force, Mr Akram said yesterday evening, adding that the draft resolution would be adopted as soon as all the conditions are fulfilled.
The Council President said members of the 15-nation body also condemned the recent violence and atrocities committed in Congo, especially the brutal murders of two military observers from Jordan and Malawi who were part of the UN Organisation Mission in Congo (MONUC), as well as the looting of humanitarian and medical equipment.
Fielding questions from the press, Mr Akram said that following the morning's consultations on the Congo, the prevailing sentiment among the Security Council's members had been "the sooner we act the better."
- I think that nobody can blot out of their minds the past atrocities that have taken place in the DRC, he said, "and obviously no one in or out of the Council would wish that sort of thing to happen again."
Under the draft resolution that had been circulated, the mandate of the proposed force would chiefly be to restore and preserve peace in the troubled region, Mr Akram said, stressing that he believed that mandate would be "robust enough" and the force would be equipped for that purpose. He expected the Security Council to act quickly, possibly as early as Friday.
- Our only concern, of course, regards financing and logistical support, and we are awaiting conformation on that, he said. Responding to another question, Mr Akram said that while there had been no specific discussion of the size and make-up of the proposed force, he expected the Security Council would firm up those issues, too, by the time the resolution was adopted.
Speaking to the press earlier Wednesday was French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sablière. France has already agreed to lead the multinational force. Characterising the conditions in Bunia and throughout the Congo's north-eastern Ituri province as "an emergency situation," he said that France's agreement to head the force had been predicated upon several conditions, chiefly that the Security Council authorise such a force under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, and spell out its mandate precisely.
The resolution will also give a very precise mandate to the force, he said. "The mandate should be to stabilise and maintain the security and humanitarian situation in Bunia and to protect the airport and refugee camps there, and if necessary the population in the immediate vicinity," Mr de La Sablière said. "The multinational force will be deployed until 1 September, pending the arrival of a MONUC force comprised of peace-keepers form Bangladesh."
Another condition had been that the Security Council insist on the support of countries in the Great Lakes region - not only the Kinshasa government, which had requested that a force be sent, but also Uganda and Rwanda, the French ambassador said.
The Council has already received word that Secretary-General Annan had received letters from the respective leaders of those two countries expressing their support. "I am confident now that in the coming days - I hope by Friday - we will be able to reach final agreement in the Council and adopt the resolution," added the French ambassador.
Bunia still tense
Meanwhile, UN troops in Bunia report of a tense situation with sporadic fighting in and around the town. According to a UN spokesman in New York, fighting between the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and the Ituri Patriotic Resistance Front (FRPI) was reported in the general area of Kindia, a southern part of Ituri, with casualties on both sides. Wide-scale looting was also continuing in some localities.
During a press conference at UN Headquarters, Carolyn McAskie, UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that despite Ituri's volatility, "Bunia looks like a ghost town." Currently, between 15,000 and 20,000 people were sheltering themselves in the compound of MONUC. Although non-governmental organizations had been "courageous" and the UN had been able to take care of many basic needs, people were "crowded, miserable, and huddled under plastic sheeting," she said.
Asked about claims of genocide in the area, Ms McAskie said she could not offer figures on the total number of deaths since nobody knew what the situation was like outside of Bunia. Initial reports of thousands of people being massacred had been exaggerated. The figure was actually closer to 400.
She added, however, that leaders were attempting to gain power by stirring up ethnic hatred, and men, women, and children were responding by attacking each other brutally. In that context, although the actual figures did not add up to genocide, the conflict definitely had "a genocidal nature".
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