UN Plans To Deploy Peacekeepers In DRC
August 12, 1999
NEW YORK, UN (PANA) - The United Nations has announced it would begin, in a couple of weeks, the deployment of its personnel in the Great Lakes region to help with the the implementation of the recent ceasefire agreement for the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The spokesman for the Secretary-General, Fred Eckhard, said Wednesday that the first group of UN personnel would be deployed to Lusaka, in Zambia, and Kinshasha, capital of the DRC.
The next deployment would be for Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania, and other capitals in the region, depending on developments on the ground, he added.
The secretary-general's decision to start the deployment follows the adoption last week of a resolution by the Security Council authorising UN presence in the region.
The year-old conflict in the DRC has drawn in troops from six countries in the region split between supporting the government and the rebels.
The ceasefire agreement signed about a month ago by the parties calls for withdrawal of foreign troops and disarming of rebels and militia.
Though leaders of the countries involved in the conflict signed the ceasefire accord, rebel leaders of the divided Rally for Congolese Democracy did not, due to disagreements among them as to who should sign.
Efforts are still continuing at the regional level to get the rebels sign. |
