DRC: MONUC gets six-month extension, 5,900 more troops

Photo: UN

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

NAIROBI, 4 October 2004 (IRIN) - In a move described by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as "an important step", the UN Security Council extended on Friday the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known as MONUC, by six months and approved a further 5,900 troops for the mission. "I must remind the Council, however, that the newly approved ceiling of 16,700 in total falls well below the figure of 23,900 troops and 507 civilian police personnel that I had recommended in my Report to the Council," Annan said in a statement issued on Friday in New York. He added: "In view of this reduction, MONUC will have to review the scope of support it could provide to the peace process, as my original recommendations were made on different assumptions. I have, therefore, instructed DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations] to review the tasks that can be performed by MONUC within the new ceiling, with a view to revising the scope of its military and civilian police concepts of operations." At the Council meeting on Friday, the 15-member body unanimously adopted resolution 1565 extending MONUC's mandate until 31 March 2005; authorised the additional 5,900 troops for the mission; and defined wide-ranging terms for the mission's expanded capacity. The Council mandated MONUC to deploy and maintain a presence in key areas of potential volatility "to promote the re-establishment of confidence, discourage violence and allow United Nations personnel to operate freely, particularly in the eastern part of the country". The Council directed MONUC to ensure the protection of civilians and humanitarian personnel, who come under imminent threat of physical violence, and to seize or collect arms and other weapons, whose presence in the country violated a weapons ban the council had earlier imposed on eastern Congo. To support the transitional government established on 30 June 2003 in the capital, Kinshasa, the Council directed MONUC to contribute to arrangements for the security of institutions and the protection of officials during the transition until an integrated police unit for Kinshasa was in place. Also, MONUC will need to assist the Congolese authorities in maintaining order in other strategic areas. The Council also tasked MONUC with, among other things, supporting operations to disarm foreign combatants led by the Armed Forces of the DRC, contributing to the successful completion of the country's electoral process, and assisting in the promotion and protection of human rights. The Council decided that MONUC would have the mandate to provide advice and assistance to the transitional government, including the support of three joint commissions outlined in Annan's report, with a view towards advancing essential legislation, which will focus on the future constitution, security sector reform and the electoral process. The Council urged the governments of Burundi, DRC, Rwanda and Uganda to ensure their territories were not used to infringe the sovereignty of the others, "to realize the complete normalisation of their bilateral relations and to actively cooperate in assuring security along their common borders". The Council requested Annan to inform it of the developments in the DRC and to submit, before 28 February 2005, a report on the execution of MONUC's mandate, including an evaluation of the structure and strength of its military, as well as civilian and police components. "I continue to believe that the total military and police strength recommended in my Third Special Report is the minimum required to effectively meet the current challenges in the DRC," Annan said on Friday. "It is for this reason that I welcome the Council's intention to keep MONUC's strength and structure under regular review, and I sincerely hope that the council will favourably revisit the issue of MONUC's requirements in the future," he added.