UN votes to extend DR Congo mandate
UN votes to extend DR Congo mandate
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Tuesday, 23, Dec 2008 09:28
The United Nations (UN) Security Council has voted to renew the mandate of its peacekeeping force in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for a year.
The resolution on Monday declared the protection of the population in the east of the country, where troops have been fighting Tutsi rebels, as the top priority for the peacekeeping force known as Monuc.
The UN resolution 1856 declares that from January 1st there will be a continuation of up to 19,815 military personnel, 70 military observers, 391 police personnel and 1,050 personnel of formed police units in the country.
The resolution directs Monuc to "attach the highest priority to addressing the crisis in the Kivus [eastern DRC], in particular the protection of civilians, and to concentrate progressively during the coming year its action in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo".
Some human rights groups have criticised the 17,000 peacekeepers currently in place of not doing enough to protect Congolese citizens affected by the fighting between the Tutsi National Council for the Defence of the People (CNDP) rebel forces and the army which has raged since August and left some 250,000 people displaced.
Jean-Maurice Ripert, France's UN ambassador, said the new resolution showed that Monuc was empowered to act against those who would endanger the peace process.
He said that it instructed regional states that they "must co-operate with the DRC government to help bring about a return to lasting peace and security on DRC territory".
Rwanda's Tutsi-led government has been accused of assisting the rebel - currently led by renegade general Laurent Nkunda.
General Nkunda claims Congo's government supported Rwandan Hutu rebels during the Rwandan genocide in 1994.