Security Council gives nod to unified Kisangani brigade in DR Congo

Acknowledging that the advent of a transitional national government had changed the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations Security Council today unanimously withdrew its demand for the complete demilitarization of a key town.

Instead, it adopted a resolution welcoming "the efforts currently undertaken to set up the first integrated and unified brigade in Kisangani as a step towards the elaboration and implementation of a comprehensive programme for the formation of a Congolese integrated national army."

In 2000, the Council demanded that forces from Uganda, Rwanda, the Congolese armed opposition and other armed groups immediately and completely withdraw from Kisangani and it called on all signatories of the 1999 Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement to respect the demilitarization of the city and its surroundings.

Today's resolution decided that this demand "shall not apply to the restructured and integrated forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to the armed forces included in the comprehensive programme for the formation of an integrated and restructured national army."

Kisangani, a town on the Congo River that has been featured in world literature as Stanleyville, was the scene of major battles in the country's latest civil war. The destruction of the local infrastructure has left it cut off from commercial links, except by air.

The Council called for more international assistance to further the process of integrating and restructuring the DRC's armed forces.

Video of Security Council meeting