DR of Congo: Annan welcomes approval of multinational emergency force

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today welcomed the Security Council’s approval of a robust multinational force to work alongside the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to restore stability to the troubled town of Bunia and help improve the humanitarian situation there.

“The Secretary-General is grateful to France for having assumed the role of lead nation and for contributing roughly half the troops for the force, on which the people of Bunia, and indeed of all of the north-eastern region, count to help them restore normalcy to their lives,” a spokesman for Mr. Annan said in a statement issued in New York.

The statement added that with advance elements scheduled to be deployed in a matter of days, and full deployment to begin in two weeks, the multinational force offers the parties in the DRC “a chance to rebuild the peace process” in that country, which is essential to the stability of central Africa.

“The Secretary-General urges them to cooperate fully with the force as well as with United Nations peacekeepers in pursuit of that goal,” the statement said.