UN protests DR of Congo impediments to air crash investigation

The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has "strongly protested" to the transitional government for allegedly blocking its efforts to check out reports that an airplane that crashed in Katanga Province had been carrying weapons, which would be in contravention of the arms embargo imposed against the African country.

The UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) said, in a formal complaint issued yesterday, that it sent military observers to the area of last weekend's crash in the eastern DRC, "but they were not allowed to get near the site guarded by military officers armed with AK-47 rifles and people wearing civilian clothes."

MONUC said the aircraft "was allegedly transporting weapons intended" for armed groups in South Kivu.

The protest said that DRC officials had denied the aircraft was carrying weapons, but "being denied access to the scene of the crash, and having encountered obstacles, which did not allow them to implement their mandate, MONUC military observers were not in position to confirm or deny the allegation."

"MONUC therefore denounces these obstacles and calls on the relevant authorities to allow its military observers free access to the site of the accident in order to clarify the issue," the protest said.

In other news, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for the DRC, William Lacy Swing, in telephone conversations with Congolese President Joseph Kabila and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, encouraged the nations in the sub-region to continue their cooperation in accordance with the Security Council's resolution, which includes an arms ban in the DRC.