AFRICA/DR CONGO – Withdrawal of the Blue Helmets from the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo: Paris and Washington take totally different positions
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – The east of the Democratic Republic of Congo is on the middle of the geopolitical pursuits of the good powers as a consequence of its pure sources and its strategic location. On July 8, the UN Safety Council mentioned the state of affairs within the area in a session throughout which the report of the group of consultants that’s supposed to try the world each six months was introduced. The report states, amongst different issues, that Rwanda helps the M23 rebels, arms them and reinforces them with its personal troops (see Fides, 9/7/2024).
Through the assembly, the withdrawal of the UN mission within the Democratic Republic of Congo (United Nations Group Stabilization Mission within the DR Congo, MONUSCO) was additionally mentioned. The peacekeepers withdrew from South Kivu province final month, however haven’t but left North Kivu and Ituri, the place a whole bunch of armed teams are current alongside the M23 motion, together with the jihadists of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), also called ISCAP (Islamic State Central African Province).
Of their place, the Southern African Growth Neighborhood Mission within the DR Congo (SAMIDRC) shall be deployed to help the Congolese military in its efforts to pacify the area. The US consultant to the UN Safety Council has spoken out towards UN troops nonetheless in jap DR Congo supporting SAMIDRC. “The first objective of america in jap DRC is to help a de-escalation of the battle and put an finish to the instability and human struggling the battle has precipitated. That’s the reason we imagine this Council ought to guard towards steps that might additional inflame regional tensions—together with extending important MONUSCO help to SAMIDRC,” mentioned Stephanie Sullivan, Deputy Everlasting Consultant to the UN Safety Council, who advocated “restricted help” from the UN for the East African states’ mission.
The Washington authorities, which negotiated a humanitarian ceasefire between the M23 and the Congolese military that got here into power on July 5 (see Fides, 9/7/2024), and which has criticized Rwanda for its actions within the Democratic Republic of Congo, continues to name on Kinshasa and Kigali to take a seat down on the negotiating desk in Luanda (Angola) to discover a resolution to the disaster that threatens to unfold to all the Nice Lakes area. In contrast to america, France has requested the UN Safety Council to decelerate the withdrawal of MONUSCO from the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, the place, in accordance with Paris, the circumstances for withdrawal usually are not but met, calling for cooperation between the blue helmets and the SAMIDRC troopers. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 10/7/2024)
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