Fellow citizens and members of the International Community:
Like we have always stated, it matter NOT how much UN force is deployed in the Ituri and other parts of Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in an attempt to stop violence in the Region.
What members of the International Community need to do is to deal FIRMLY (this is the Key word here) with dictators such as Yoweri Museveni who, in the first place, have acted as catalyst in instigate wars in the Great Lakes Region and Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. That is what we need to do.
Also, at this point, all those at war with each other need to be included in a comprehensive all encompassing peace conference organized by the UN preferable with the intention of getting addressing real cause of conflict in the great Lakes Region. The likes of Museveni should be strongly reprimanded or even called upon to resign from leadership positions in Uganda.
This then is what I see will bring about reconciliation in the Great Lakes Region.
matek
DRC: UN's multinational force ''totally insufficient'', says crisis group
NAIROBI, 16 June (IRIN) - The French-led multinational force being deployed to Bunia, the main town in the embattled Ituri District of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is "totally insufficient", the International Crisis Group, a global analysis and advocacy organisation, said in a report published on Friday.
In its report, titled "Congo Crisis: Military Intervention in Ituri", the crisis group calls for a larger UN intervention force that covers a greater geographic area and stays much longer than the 1 September deadline currently mandated. The existing UN Mission in the DRC, MONUC, is expected to take over when the multinational force leaves.
The multinational force is "conceived only as a stopgap, to hold the line until additional MONUC troops are deployed in September", Francois Grignon, the group’s Central Africa project director, said in a statement issued with the report. He added that if the multinational force did not demilitarise Bunia, "it was likely to be caught in competing accusations from all the militias that almost certainly will lead to conflict".
Grignon said, "The militias must be cantoned at least 15 km out of Bunia to allow displaced populations to access the town freely and receive relief."
By mid-August, the crisis group added, MONUC must also have the physical capability, reinforced mandate and political backing to intervene in support of Ituri's pacification and be geared towards restoration of Congolese state sovereignty.
"There must also be sustained pressure on Rwanda, Uganda and Congo's leaders - and their proxy militias - to support the local pacification process in the area and finalise negotiations towards the establishment of a legitimate transitional Congo government," Grignon said.
The crisis group also said it was important that MONUC's reinforcement not be limited to Ituri, but to the provinces of North and South Kivu, to the south of Ituri, which have been at the heart of DRC's wars for the past decade and where the conflict's toll has been even higher.
"The pacification of Ituri should provide a formula for the wider, directly linked task of bringing stability and security to the entire eastern Congo," the crisis group stated.
[For the group’s complete report go to http://www.crisisweb.org/]
