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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Uruguayan troops to "reinforce" MONUC presence in Ituri

KINSHASA, 23 April 2003 (IRIN) - The 200 Uruguayan troops deployed on Wednesday in Bunia are there to "reinforce" the presence of MONUC, the UN Mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and not to replace Ugandan troops, a spokesman for MONUC said.

"The arrival of the contingent is within the framework decided by the UN Security Council on the strengthening of MONUC's presence in Ituri," Hamadoun Toure said.

Bunia is the principal town of Ituri District in DRC's northeastern Orientale Province, where thousands of people have been killed in ethnic and other fighting over the past four years.

Toure said the mandate of the Uruguayan troops was to support the Ituri pacification process and the administrative bodies formed to try to end the hostilities. Asked at a news conference in Kinshasa whether MONUC troops would be able to return fire if fighting resumed, Toure said that the troops would try to prevent renewed hostilities, but would take "measures" to avoid the situation degenerating if fighting broke out.

The MONUC deployment comes on the eve of the scheduled withdrawal from Bunia of Ugandan troops of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF). Toure said a first small wave of UPDF troop withdrawal was observed on 21 and 22 April.

The Ugandan presidential adviser on military affairs and head of UPDF troops in Ituri Brig Kale Kayihura, was quoted by government-run Radio Uganda as saying that Ugandan soldiers were ready to leave on 24 April.

Kayihura said some soldiers would return by road to Uganda via West Nile, while others would be flown out.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

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