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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
Central Africa: UN missions to address peace, security and development
NAIROBI, 9 June 2003 (IRIN) - Two UN teams have begun missions to central Africa in efforts to strengthen cooperation between the UN and countries in the region, UN News reported.
One team, sent by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is a multidisciplinary assessment mission that began its two-week visit on Monday.
A statement issued by Annan on Friday said the mission, led by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Tuliameni Kalomoh would determine the measures to be taken for the implementation of a "comprehensive, integrated, resolute and concerted approach to the issues of peace, security and development" in the region.
The Kalomoh team is scheduled to visit 11 countries that are members of the Economic Community of Central African States.
The UN Security Council sent the second team, led by the French ambassador to the UN, Jean-Marc de La Sabliere. It left New York on Sunday for central Africa, where it was scheduled to visit Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The full 15-member Council was reported to be participating in the delegation charged with emphasising that all parties in the wider Great Lakes region must continue pressing for peace - particularly in the DRC.
UN News also reported that Annan's top adviser on women's issues had urged the two missions headed for central Africa to put women and girls at the centre of peace efforts, "and to ensure that women played a greater role in the region's overall reconciliation processes".
In a briefing note to the Council, Annan's Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women, Angela King, highlighted trafficking, forced displacement, massacres targeting women and the use of rape as a weapon of war in the DRC.
She urged the Council mission to "look for the impact of the conflict on women and girls, equal participation of men and women in consultations, mechanisms to address victims, and programmes to respond to and prevent violence, abuse and exploitation of women and girls".
In a related development, New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the Council mission to central African to prioritise civilian protection. In an open letter to the Council, HRW said although partial peace agreements were in place in Burundi and the DRC, "combat continues with civilians as prime targets".
HRW said the mission should also raise the need for justice with the leaders in the region, for abuses against civilians.
The NGO welcomed the 30 May decision by the council to send a multinational peacekeeping force to Bunia, eastern DRC. However, it raised fears about thousands of civilians outside the two whose fate, HRW said, was unknown.
"In recent days, there has been renewed violence in Aru, Mongbwalu and Tchomia [all in Ituri District] - all of which are areas outside the current mandate of the new force," HRW said.
It called on the Council to urge the interim force to be prepared to respond to such attacks against civilians.
Regarding Burundi, HRW said the council should ensure that the new government delivers on its promises to end war and deliver justice.
"In several of the most serious massacres, government soldiers have escaped meaningful punishment," HRW reported. It added that the Council should call upon the government and rebel forces to stop abuses against civilians and "adhere strictly to international humanitarian law".
Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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