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"Little progress, if any" made in DR of Congo peace process: Annan
22 September -- Noting the stalemate in the peace process of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended an eight-week extension of the United Nations operation in that country, hoping that the extra time will be used wisely by the parties to the conflict.

According to Mr. Annan's latest report to the Security Council, there has been "little progress, if any, in the implementation of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement [which] has been consistently violated in the intensified fighting between the government and rebel and UPDF [Uganda People's Defence Force] forces in northern Equateur province."

The hostilities, Mr. Annan writes, have not only imperilled the peace process, but have also spilled over into the Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic.

According to the report, a disengagement plan has been stalled, while efforts to assist the parties in implementing the Lusaka Agreement have been frustrated by restrictions on the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (MONUC) freedom of movement and opposition until recently to the deployment of UN troops. In addition, the DRC Government has questioned the validity of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement.

"Lack of any progress in the peace process would make it difficult to justify not only the commencement of the second phase of UN deployment but also the continuation of the current level of the mission's presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," Mr. Annan concludes. "It is clear that UN peacekeeping operations cannot serve as a substitute for the political will to achieve a political settlement."

Speaking to the press today at UN Headquarters in New York, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Bernard Miyet, said that deploying troops under the current conditions in the DRC would be risky.

"One of the risks of such an operation would be that if you move into the peacekeeping operation without any meaningful and serious prospect of any breakthrough or move on the political side, you are trapped there for I don't know how long without any prospect to improve the situation," Mr. Miyet said.