ited Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is to get another 3,000 soldiers by the end of October, the force announced Wednesday. The reinforcement, which will come nearly a year after a resolution was approved by the UN Security Council, will comprise another 2,785 soldiers and 300 police officers.
The new arrivals will include an infantry battalion and a company of special forces from Egypt; an infantry battalion and a company of engineers from Bangladesh; and a special forces company from Jordan.
Most of them will be deployed in the volatile east and northeast of the country, where an estimated 500 members of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) still terrorise the population.
Also present in the zone, despite efforts by Congolese and Rwandan troops to flush them out, are up to 6,000 Rwandan Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
The first troops would arrive by the end of August, with the rest deployed by the end of October, MONUC spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich told AFP. The newcomers will be boosting an existing force of 17,000 peacekeepers, 700 military observers and more than a thousand police officers, who work closely with the Congolese army in operations against the two rebel groups.
MONUC, on the ground since 2001, is the largest single peacekeeping force deployed by the UN, with an annual budget of 1.35 billion dollars (950 million euros).
Showing posts with label DR Congo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DR Congo. Show all posts
Friday, August 21, 2009
DTN News: Congo ~ UN Peacekeeping Force To Get 3,000 Extra Troops
DTN News: Congo ~ UN Peacekeeping Force To Get 3,000 Extra Troops
*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) MONUC, Congo - August 21, 2009: The Un
ited Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is to get another 3,000 soldiers by the end of October, the force announced Wednesday. The reinforcement, which will come nearly a year after a resolution was approved by the UN Security Council, will comprise another 2,785 soldiers and 300 police officers.
The new arrivals will include an infantry battalion and a company of special forces from Egypt; an infantry battalion and a company of engineers from Bangladesh; and a special forces company from Jordan.
Most of them will be deployed in the volatile east and northeast of the country, where an estimated 500 members of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) still terrorise the population.
Also present in the zone, despite efforts by Congolese and Rwandan troops to flush them out, are up to 6,000 Rwandan Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
The first troops would arrive by the end of August, with the rest deployed by the end of October, MONUC spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich told AFP. The newcomers will be boosting an existing force of 17,000 peacekeepers, 700 military observers and more than a thousand police officers, who work closely with the Congolese army in operations against the two rebel groups.
MONUC, on the ground since 2001, is the largest single peacekeeping force deployed by the UN, with an annual budget of 1.35 billion dollars (950 million euros).
ited Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is to get another 3,000 soldiers by the end of October, the force announced Wednesday. The reinforcement, which will come nearly a year after a resolution was approved by the UN Security Council, will comprise another 2,785 soldiers and 300 police officers.
The new arrivals will include an infantry battalion and a company of special forces from Egypt; an infantry battalion and a company of engineers from Bangladesh; and a special forces company from Jordan.
Most of them will be deployed in the volatile east and northeast of the country, where an estimated 500 members of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) still terrorise the population.
Also present in the zone, despite efforts by Congolese and Rwandan troops to flush them out, are up to 6,000 Rwandan Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
The first troops would arrive by the end of August, with the rest deployed by the end of October, MONUC spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich told AFP. The newcomers will be boosting an existing force of 17,000 peacekeepers, 700 military observers and more than a thousand police officers, who work closely with the Congolese army in operations against the two rebel groups.
MONUC, on the ground since 2001, is the largest single peacekeeping force deployed by the UN, with an annual budget of 1.35 billion dollars (950 million euros).
Friday, March 27, 2009
French President Nicolas Sarkozy In The Democratic Republic of Congo
French President Nicolas Sarkozy In The Democratic Republic of Congo
(NSI News Source Info) March 27, 2009: French President Nicolas Sarkozy reviews the guard of honor upon his arrival to meet Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila at the Nation Presidential Palace in Kinshasa on March 26, 2009.
Sarkozy called for a "new momentum" on cooperation in Africa's troubled Great Lakes region, in a speech to lawmakers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Sarkozy called for a "new momentum" on cooperation in Africa's troubled Great Lakes region, in a speech to lawmakers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In an address to a joint session of parliament, Sarkozy also praised his DR Congo counterpart Joseph Kabila for his "courageous decision" to mount a joint military operation with Rwanda to oust rebels in eastern Congo.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
DR Congo Urges Rwandan Rebels To Disarm Before Talks
DR Congo Urges Rwandan Rebels To Disarm Before Talks
(NSI News Source Info) KINSHASA - February 9, 2009: The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) is urging Rwandan rebels holed up in the east of the central African country to lay down arms before negotiating for a way out, a government official has announced.
Communication Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga made the remarks on Friday after the rebel leader called for negotiations and a halt of the Congolese-Rwandan military operation that was launched on Jan. 20.
"No serious government could negotiate with armed foreigners on its territory," Mende said, adding that the negotiations in question could be held in Rwanda rather than in DR Congo, and between the rebels and Kigali rather than Kinshasa. 
Rwandan and Congolese forces are hunting down thousands of Hutu rebels in rural eastern Congo in an operation intended to address the root cause of 15 years of conflict in Congo. A Congolese fighter from the pro-government Mai-Mai militia was one of those searching in the village of Kalenge near the front line.
The minister also said Rwandan Hutus wishing to stay in DR Congo must seek a refugee status "without arms."
Earlier in the day, Ignace Murwanashyaka, president of the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), appealed to both DR Congo and Rwanda to stop the joint operation, saying he was ready to negotiate with them.
In his statement, Murwanashyaka demanded guarantees for the security of the FDLR combatants in Rwanda.
The FDLR is linked to the 1994 massacre in Rwanda in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Rwandans were killed. The perpetrators fled to DR Congo's North Kivu province afterwards.
The rebels have since become a root cause of DR Congo's internal conflicts and tensions with Rwanda, which sent troops twice in the 1990s in cross-border attacks on the FDLR fighters.
In a turnaround from the two countries' long-standing hostilities, Kinshasa and Kigali began to seek the normalization of ties late last year and decided to join hands in a military operation in North Kivu against both Congolese Tutsi and Rwandan Hutu rebels.
Rwandan and Congolese forces are hunting down thousands of Hutu rebels in rural eastern Congo in an operation intended to address the root cause of 15 years of conflict in Congo. A Congolese fighter from the pro-government Mai-Mai militia was one of those searching in the village of Kalenge near the front line.
The minister also said Rwandan Hutus wishing to stay in DR Congo must seek a refugee status "without arms."
Earlier in the day, Ignace Murwanashyaka, president of the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), appealed to both DR Congo and Rwanda to stop the joint operation, saying he was ready to negotiate with them.
In his statement, Murwanashyaka demanded guarantees for the security of the FDLR combatants in Rwanda.
The FDLR is linked to the 1994 massacre in Rwanda in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Rwandans were killed. The perpetrators fled to DR Congo's North Kivu province afterwards.
The rebels have since become a root cause of DR Congo's internal conflicts and tensions with Rwanda, which sent troops twice in the 1990s in cross-border attacks on the FDLR fighters.
In a turnaround from the two countries' long-standing hostilities, Kinshasa and Kigali began to seek the normalization of ties late last year and decided to join hands in a military operation in North Kivu against both Congolese Tutsi and Rwandan Hutu rebels.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
