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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: MONUC deplores renewed hostilities in Bunia

NAIROBI, 5 May 2003 (IRIN) - The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known as MONUC, said it "greatly deplored" renewed hostilities in Bunia, the principal city of Ituri District in the northeast of the country, where fighting on Saturday resulted in at least five deaths and many more wounded and displaced.

"MONUC greatly deplores this fighting... which constitutes an unacceptable violation of the cessation of hostilities accord signed on 18 March 2003 and which threatens the promising and undeniable gains made by the Ituri Pacification Commission (IPC)," MONUC said in a statement issued on Sunday.

It urged all signatories to the March agreement to immediately respect their commitment to withdraw their armed forces from Bunia, and to return to their respective bases. "It is under such conditions that the IPC, with the support of MONUC, would be in a position to assure an effective return of peace and security to Bunia and Ituri," it said.

According to MONUC, fighting involving both light and heavy weaponry erupted in several areas of Bunia on Saturday morning, targeting MONUC and other UN offices, and provoking panic among residents. The residence of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was completely pillaged. By early afternoon, the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF), which has been reducing its presence in Ituri, retook control of Bunia and redeployed military police patrols, as did MONUC, reinforced by forces of the Congolese National Police, who arrived on Sunday.

MONUC said the objective of this fighting between armed factions of ethnic Hemas and Lendus was to seize control of Bunia in the wake of the UPDF pull-out. The fighting ended with ethnic Lendu militias ejecting from Bunia the primarily Hema forces allied to chief Kawa Panga, MONUC said.

"According to international conventions, the Ugandan troops must assure the security of the civilian population as long as they are present in Ituri," MONUC stated.

For his part, Ugandan Foreign Minister James Wapakhabulo appealed to the UN to make its presence felt in Ituri so as not to create a vacuum following the withdrawal of UPDF troops, The New Vision Ugandan government-owned daily reported on Monday. He said Uganda would be completely out of the DRC in two weeks, and called for full support for the implementation of the Lusaka agreement, which includes the early establishment of a broad-based government in Kinshasa and building capacity for MONUC to carry out its operations.

Meanwhile, significant population movements eastwards across Lake Albert and into the western Ugandan district of Bundibugyo were widely reported. However, precise figures were unavailable.

On Sunday, local sources told IRIN that tensions remained high in and around Bunia, and warned that conditions were ripe for the resumption of war and civilian massacres in Ituri.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs

[ENDS]

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