Tuesday, December 16, 2008

MONUC: We're Doing All We Can

With European leaders like Nicholas Sarkozy suggesting that Monuc's forces, properly supplemented, are enough to bring peace to eastern Congo, Monuc yesterday published a press release saying that more than 90 percent of its troops are deployed in the east.
Of the 17,421 peacekeepers constituting its total strength, 6,139 are stationed in insecurity-plagued North Kivu province, or 8 out of a total of 17 battalions. Between 800 and 1,000 troops are deployed in Goma, the provincial capital.

3,513 peacekeepers are deployed in South Kivu, while another 3,769 are operational in Ituri, one of the most volatile regions. The remainder of the Force is scattered across the western part of the DRC, including the Congolese capital, Kinshasa.
MONUC Force Commander, General Babacar Gaye, said that the peacekeepers provide "anchoring points" where people in difficulty can gather to ask for assitance. But he acknowledged that the size of the terrain can make the force seem inadequate to the challenge of protecting everybody.

No comments:

Post a Comment