DR of Congo: 2,500 UN peacekeepers now patrolling in Bunia

Some 2,500 United Nations peacekeeping troops are now firmly in place in Bunia, in the war-ravaged northeast province of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the UN Mission in the country.

Just a few days after taking over security responsibilities from the French-led Interim Emergency Multinational Force (IEMF), which had been policing the troubled regions since June, the UN Organization Mission’s (MONUC’s) Ituri Brigade has also begun to deploy outside of Bunia, conducting reconnaissance missions this week.

At the town of Mongbwala, to the northwest, they found the situation stable on Wednesday. To the northeast, where they went yesterday, they confirmed that the town of Fataki was totally destroyed and abandoned. They report that some 18,000 people displaced from Fataki are huddled in the nearby town of Bule, and 5,000 more displaced are in three other adjoining villages.

The peacekeepers are planning two more reconnaissance missions this week.

MONUC plans to increase its strength in Bunia to some 4,500-5,000 peacekeeping troops by the end of October.

The Security Council authorized the deployment of the IEMF in late May to help stabilize the situation in the resource-rich Ituri province, and particularly in the flashpoint town of Bunia, where ethnic clashes between Lendu and Hema clans had killed more than 400 people.