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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Ituri Pacification Commission inaugurated

BUNIA, 4 April 2003 (IRIN) - After some four years of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the long-awaited Ituri Pacification Commission was inaugurated on Friday in Bunia, the principal town in Ituri district, northeastern DRC.

The 177-member commission is being chaired by Behrooz Sadry, the UN Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative to the DRC.

Members of the commission comprise representatives of the DRC, Uganda and Angola governments, and the UN mission to the DRC, known as MONUC. Others are civil society bodies, a business people's association, political and military parties to the conflict in Ituri, and 90 grassroots communities that form the largest block on the commission.

Their task will be to implant a new administrative authority in Ituri; set up an acceptable structure to maintain law and order; and assure the total withdrawal of Ugandan troops from the region.

"The realisation of these objectives is necessary for the return of durable peace in Ituri," Sadry said at the inaugural conference. But, he added, the primary responsibility lay with the people of Ituri.

On 14 April delegates to the commission will sign a document containing "objective, practical and realistic" recommendations to obtain peace in the area.

Sadry said that with the inauguration of the commission, no child in Ituri should be kept from school or recruited by armed groups; no woman should be subjected to the worst atrocities; and the words rape, massacre, pillage and torture should disappear from the vocabulary of the public.

Recalling that the Sun City accord of 2 April established a national government for the DRC, Sadry said: "I feel that this is a happy coincidence that the Ituri Pacification Commission is not an isolated undertaking, and that it is part of the dynamic of reconciliation and a new beginning on the national plane."

Also speaking on the occasion, the representative of the DRC, Human Rights Minister Ntumba Lwaba, said the establishment of the commission was a chance to bring peace to Ituri. "It offers enormous opportunities for the establishment of state authority to the region, a solution to the problem of child soldiers, the end to ethnic wars, and the withdrawal of Ugandan troops," Lwaba said.

The representative of the Ugandan government, Brig Kale Kayihura, said: "We are anxious to withdraw back to our country. Indeed, we are even ready to withdraw before the date of 24 April, 2003."

He added, however: "As leaders we should handle the fragile situation in Ituri in a responsible way. We should think of the security of the people of Ituri, and what a security vacuum would create if we were suddenly to pack our bags and depart."

Angola was not represented at the inaugural ceremony.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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