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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
DRC: MONUC accuses Kinshasa of blocking plane crash inquiry
KINSHASA, 5 November 2003 (IRIN) - The UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as MONUC, has accused the government of blocking an inquiry into the crash landing of a cargo plane believed to have been transporting illegal arms to groups in South Kivu Province in the east of the country.
The plane was reported to have crashed last week at the Kamina military base, in central Katanga Province of southeastern DRC.
MONUC spokesman Hamadoun Toure said that Congolese soldiers prevented MONUC military observers from visiting the scene of the crash. The plane was alleged to have been transporting arms to an unspecified location in South Kivu.
"The [crash] site in Kamina is heavily guarded by soldiers of the Congolese military who turned back our military observers and roughed up and arrested the Congolese officer who was accompanying them," Toure told a news conference on Wednesday in the capital, Kinshasa.
UN Security Council Resolution 1493 of 28 July 2003 stated that all parties to conflict in the DRC had "the obligation to provide full and unhindered access to MONUC to allow it to carry out its mandate" and asked that MONUC report any failure to comply with this obligation.
MONUC said that their information indicated that the arms were destined for Congolese armed groups, not foreign armed groups operating on DRC territory.
Neighbouring Rwanda has repeatedly accused the Kinshasa government of supporting Rwandan rebel groups operating on eastern Congolese soil; Kinshasa has recently given its assurances to Kigali that it would root out Rwandan Hutu rebels in eastern Congo in a bid to normalise relations between the two countries.
[see earlier story, "Congo pledges to arrest Rwandan Hutu rebels"].
"What is interesting for MONUC is that the government is dragging its feet while allegations are being made that the plane was transporting weapons for armed groups," Toure said.
Resolution 1493 also demanded that all states, and in particular those in the region, including the DRC, "ensure that no direct or indirect assistance, especially military or financial assistance, is given to the movements and armed groups" present in the country.
It further authorised MONUC to use force to carry out its mandate, something Toure said would be counter-productive.
"Even if Resolution 1493 authorises us to use force, we can not resort to such a measure in the current case, we can not wage war against the Congolese army, otherwise our very reason for being here would come into question," Toure said.
The Congolese government has not yet issued any official comment on the situation, although Toure said that officials had first denied that the crash occurred, then later acknowledged that "a minor incident" had, in fact, occurred.
This was not the first time that MONUC encountered resistance to its freedom of movement: on 28 October, the UN mission said that for several weeks, its military observers had been denied access to military camps in North Kivu Province run by the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) former rebel group, now party to the Congo's two-year transitional government. [see earlier story, "MONUC denounces obstruction of verification missions in east"].
Obstacles were ostensibly removed the following day, when North Kivu Governor Eugene Serufuli issued instructions for the mission's observers "to be allowed free movement, free access to any military compounds and to freely interview any person they wished". [see earlier story, "MONUC granted access to North Kivu military compounds"]
Following nearly five years of war, a two-year power-sharing transitional government was installed in the DRC on 30 June, while the leadership of a united national military was inaugurated on 5 September.
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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