News from the Washington File

22 March 2000
U.N. Warns That DRC Peacekeeping Deployment Is Jeopardized

(Hostilities must stop, Security Council says) (570)
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The Security Council and U.N. peacekeeping officials
March 22 warned the parties involved in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC) that if the unrest there continues it could threaten the
long-awaited deployment of U.N. peacekeepers.
After a private meeting, Security Council President Anwarul K.
Chowdhury read a statement expressing members' concern over the
reports of renewed fighting in Kasai Occidentale province, and
statements by Congolese rebels asserting that the country is in a
state of war.
MONUC (U.N. Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo) military observers said that if the reports of fighting taking
place about 750 kilometers east of Kinshasa are confirmed it will be a
serious violation of the cease-fire signed by the DRC government,
rebel movements, and their backers last August.
"The council believes that the hostilities seriously affect deployment
of MONUC," Chowdhury said. "So this is the message we are sending
today: If you want deployment of MONUC, hostilities must stop."
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said recently that he hoped the U.N.
force would be deployed between March and June. Undersecretary-General
for Peacekeeping Operations Bernard Miyet has been in the region to
get support of all warring parties before MONUC is deployed.
U.N. Spokesman Fred Eckhard reported that Miyet, now in Paris, had
said that "although the Security Council had given the green light to
deployment of this force, that light could change to orange or even
red."
Eckhard told journalists at the daily U.N. briefing that council
members and troop-contributing countries, as well as the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations, "will be following very closely the
developments inside the DRC."
"If it is not safe, if hostilities resume, we of course know from past
experience that is no place to send peacekeepers," the spokesman said.
After weeks of negotiations, on February 24 the council gave its
approval for the United Nations to send the second phase of the
peacekeeping operation to the DRC, setting the mandate for the
deployment of 5,537 troops for phase two of MONUC to help bolster the
Lusaka peace agreement.
At the time of the vote, U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke called on
all the parties to the conflict "to realize the opportunities for
peace" provided by the dispatch of the peacekeepers.
Holbrooke devoted his presidency of the Security Council in January to
Africa, in particular to the crisis in DRC. Other members of the
council also expressed concern over reports of resumed military
offensives. They already had had long negotiations over the conditions
for deployment and whether the number of troops would be sufficient to
carry out the operation successfully.
"In the resolution the council makes clear that deployment of the U.N.
peacekeeping observer mission in phase two is contingent on the
cooperation of the parties, their commitment, and firm credible
assurances to the secretary-general that they will give full access to
the U.N. and their adherence to the Lusaka process," Holbrooke said.
"The full and unambiguous commitment of the parties to Lusaka is
essential in order for the international community to continue to
support the peace process," the ambassador stressed.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
usinfo.state.gov)
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U.N. Warns That DRC Peacekeeping Deployment Is Jeopardized
