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UN takes Over in Ituri

Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé)
NEWS
September 2, 2003
Posted to the web September 3, 2003

The UN troops, under a Chapter Seven mandate, could use force if necessary.
The United Nations was due to officially take over peacekeeping operations in
the troubled Democratic Republic province of Ituri from a French-led force
later yesterday. Ituri, in the north-east of the country, has seen 50,000
people killed in ethnic violence since 1999. The French-led peacekeepers
arrived in June to try to stop tit-for-tat massacres in the town of Bunia.
Hundreds of lives had been lost in a matter of weeks in fighting between ethnic
Hemas and Lendus.
The EU force's mandate was limited to Bunia, the capital of the Ituri district,
and its immediate surroundings. But the UN force is being asked to maintain
peace throughout the entire Ituri province. More than 2,000 UN soldiers from
Bangladesh, Uruguay and Pakistan are now in control of the five entry points to
Bunia. Some UN combat helicopters have started flying over the outskirts of the
town, in a bid to intimidate hundreds of militiamen who are still active in the
bush outside Bunia. The UN soldiers will be working under a Chapter Seven
mandate which allows them to use force if necessary. The official handover took
place yesterday in a ceremony to be attended by William Swing, the head of the
UN mission to DR Congo (MONUC).
Around 2,400 members of the UN peacekeeping force, nicknamed the Ituri Brigade,
are already in Bunia, according to Abu Thiam, a military spokesman from the UN
force. He said a Nepalese contingent would bring the total to about 4,000 in
October. Ethnic violence between the majority Lendu and the minority Hema
tribes in the region has claimed the lives of 50,000 people since 1999 and
displaced half a million others.
Africa's worst ever war began following the invasion of the north and east of
the country by Rwanda and Uganda, to, as they said, prevent armed groups
attacking them from Congo's territory. This brought in armies, which have now
left, from other countries to fight on the side of the Congolese Government.
However, ethnic clashes between the Hema and Lendu in the troubled north-
eastern province of Ituri remain a potential stumbling block to peace.

   

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