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Militia Given 72 Hours

The Monitor (Kampala)
NEWS
June 23, 2003
Posted to the web June 23, 2003

By Frank Nyakairu
Kampala
The French-led multinational force deployed in Bunia said on Saturday that
local militia must hand over guns or leave the town within 72 hours.
Gen. Jean-Paul Thonier, the commander of the UN-mandated force, gave "72 hours
for the withdrawal of all armed forces from Bunia", according to the force's
spokesman, Col. Gerard Dubois.
The ultimatum, which expires on Tuesday, was issued during a meeting between
Thonier and Mr Thomas Lubanga, the head of the rebel faction now in control of
Bunia, the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC).
Lubanga agreed to the ultimatum, according to Dubois, who told journalists that
any visible guns found after it expired, would be confiscated.
Lubanga himself told journalists that he had already begun pulling his gunmen
from the town.
"Mr Lubanga imposed no conditions," Dubois said in a report carried by the AFP.
An exception would be made only for guards at Lubanga's headquarters, added the
spokesman.
The multinational force began deploying in Bunia earlier this month and
currently has some 700, mostly French troops, on the ground as well as several
hundred more at Entebbe Airport in Uganda.
Entebbe Airport is being used as a base for operations in Bunia.
Meanwhile, concern mounted that a new deployment of government policemen at
Bunia's airport could upset delicate efforts to pacify the region, where inter-
ethnic violence has claimed hundreds of lives in recent weeks, worsening a
long-term humanitarian crisis.

   

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