DRC: RESIDENTS IN GOMA UNHAPPY WITH UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING MISSION (MONUC) IN THE CONGO

Record ID: 649471

  • Title: DRC: RESIDENTS IN GOMA UNHAPPY WITH UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING MISSION (MONUC) IN THE CONGO
  • Date: 23rd November 2004
  • Summary: (W1) GOMA, DR CONGO (NOVEMBER 23, 2004) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GOMA TOWN CONGOLESE SOLDIER ON MOTORCYCLE PEOPLE WALKING; MONUC VEHICLE DRIVING IN STREET VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CARRYING GOODS (2 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE)(FRENCH) GOMA RESIDENT, SAYING: "We don't have freedom at all, everytime we hear that people get killed, or arrested and lost, at Beni, Uvira, Goma towns and in all Eastern Congo we have a terrible insecurity despite the presence of United Nations Mission. People are dying." MAN SELLING WARE BY ROADSIDE (SOUNBITE)(KISWAHILI) GOMA RESIDENT PAPI BAHATI, SAYING: "Since MONUC came in Congo they do nothing, because the people are dying everyday. When this mission came we were thinking that the fighting could be stopped. This mission is loosing the time spending money. In rural areas people are dying, the UN forces are doing nothing if they can't fight for our security, it is better if they go back home." MONUC VEHICLE MAN PUSHING CART LADDEN WITH LOGS
  • Embargoed: 8th December 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
  • Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAC6FBXHI3K1RIAYCPRRWGA0PIQ
  • Story Text: Congo Residents unhappy with the United Nations Mission in Congo.
    As the Democratic Republic of Congo continues struggling to recover from a five-year war that sucked in six neighbouring countries and killed 3 million people, mostly from hunger and disease, it is receiving advice that elections must be held.
    The United Nations Security Council told Congo's leaders on Monday (November 22) that they must hold the country's first postwar elections next year as planned and speed up preparations to make sure they happen on time.
    The delegation, on a visit to Africa's turbulent Great Lakes region, said President Joseph Kabila's transitional government had expressed resolve to stick to the timetable for elections by the end of June 2005.
    With so much work still to be done, analysts warn that holding elections on time is increasingly unlikely and the U.N. peacekeeping mission -- known by its French acronym MONUC -- could be blamed by local leaders for a postponement.
    There are 10,800 U.N. peacekeepers in Congo, but under a new mandate agreed in October, the mission has been promised nearly 6,000 more soldiers, which would make it the biggest U.N. peacekeeping operation in the world.
    The size of the country means the force is stretched thin, and it has been criticised for doing little to confront a fresh rebellion in eastern Congo in June. The mission has also been plagued by some cases of sexual misconduct by its staff.
    But as UN peacekeepers join thousands of government soldiers on joint patrols in eastern Congo to protect civilians and pressure Rwandan rebels to lay down their arms, their popularity seems to be waning.
    "We don't have freedom at all, everytime we hear that people get killed, or arrested and lost, at Beni, Uvira, Goma towns and in all Eastern Congo we have a terrible insecurity despite the presence of Uinted Nations Mission.
    People are dying," said a Goma resident.
    "Since MONUC came in Congo they do nothing, because the people are dying everyday. When this mission came we were thinking that the fighting could be stopped. This mission is loosing th e time spending money. In rural areas people are dying, the UN forces are doing nothing if they can't fight for our security, it is better if they go back home,"
    said another resident.
    Large swathes of Congo, which is the size of Western Europe, remain under the control of armed groups. The interim administration is deeply divided as the former foes strive to maintain the power and influence they enjoyed during the war.
    The first joint patrols are being seen as a dress rehearsal for larger operations aimed at restoring order in the lawless east, where thousands of Hutu fighters from neighbouring Rwanda have ignored calls for them to disarm and return home.
    An estimated 10,000 Rwandan Hutu rebels remain in eastern Congo, where they have been based since fleeing Rwanda after they took part in the 1994 genocide, in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.
    The rebels have warned that they will defend themselves and fellow Hutu refugees against any attack or attempt by the Congolese army or U.N. peacekeepers to repatriate them by force.
    Congo is struggling to restore peace following a five-year war that sucked in six neighbouring countries and killed three million people, mostly from hunger and disease.
    Kinshasa's position towards the Rwandan Hutu rebels has not always been clear. During the war, which was officially declared over last year, they were armed by the government and fought against other armed groups backed by Uganda and Rwanda.
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