DR of Congo: UN rights chief decries 'brutal' killing of military observers19 May – The top United Nations human rights official today strongly condemned the brutal killing of two UN military observers, whose bodies were recovered over the weekend just north of the town of Bunia in war-riven northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
In a statement issued from Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, said he believes these killings in the DRC's troubled Ituri district confirm the need for a stronger international military presence in the region. The two soldiers from the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) went missing from their post last Tuesday.
"Although the situation has stabilized in the last few days as warring groups engaged in talks, further egregious human rights violations, and perhaps even a genocidal conflict, may not be averted unless an adequate deterrence capacity is put in place, pending the establishment of central Government authority," Mr. Vieira de Mello stressed.
The High Commissioner once again urged all States with the necessary military capacity to heed Secretary-General Kofi Annan's 's request to provide troops and materiel urgently to help bring security to the region and, in turn, to foster progress in the implementation of the peace plan for the DRC as a whole.
Mr. Vieira de Mello's also conveyed his deepest sympathy to the families of the slain observers, to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Amos Namanga Ngongi, and to all the civilian, police and military personnel of MONUC.
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