Global General
Criticized UN-backed Congo operation to shut down
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-17 10:37
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The New York-based Human Rights Watch advocacy group issued a 183-page report earlier this week that detailed what it said was the "deliberate killing" of over 1,400 civilians between January and September 2009 in two Congolese army operations.
Council diplomats said the United States, Britain, France and other council powers have made clear to MONUC and Kinshasa that more attention must be paid to protection of civilians.
Diplomats say the Security Council is under pressure from Congolese President Joseph Kabila to come up with an exit strategy for MONUC, the biggest UN peacekeeping force in the world, ahead of the 50th anniversary of Congo's independence from its former colonial master Belgium on June 30, 2010.
The council plans to renew the mandate of MONUC in the coming days for another five months, according to a draft resolution obtained by Reuters. That, diplomats say, will give the UN time to prepare a plan to reconfigure MONUC to focus more on training Congo's army than it has in the past.
Over 1 million Congolese have been displaced since 2006 polls. Wars since 1998 have killed over 5 million in Congo.
