Annan says UN mission in DR of Congo will fulfil its mandate despite Sunday’s violence

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, expressing concern about weekend attacks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) capital, Kinshasa, called on all parties to “stay the course of national reconciliation leading to fair and free national elections,” his spokesman said today.

The Secretary-General condemned any attempt to disrupt the transitional process to elections and reaffirmed the determination of the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) to carry out the mandate given to it by the Security Council in support of the process.

MONUC, too, strongly condemned the attacks yesterday on the Tshatshi and Kokolo military camps, the Ndolo Air Force camp, the logistics base, the navy river sector and other districts in Kinshasa.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Kinshasa “was rocked by 12 hours of fighting” but the assailants were eventually pushed to Ngobila Beach.

Around 20 suspects were arrested, 17 of whom were paraded for journalists, and another 18 were at large. Police said they were former soldiers of the former Zairean Armed Forces of late President Mobutu Sese Seko and one officer said the group disembarked from boats coming from Brazzaville, the capital of the neighbouring Congo Republic.

Upon being alerted, MONUC said, it stayed in contact with the Congolese political and military authorities, while the Ghanaian and Tunisian patrols of the Neutral Force in town were bolstered.

MONUC hailed the appointment of an investigating committee to establish the origin of these disturbing incidents, as announced by the Minister of Information.

“The United Nations Mission in the DRC, having a mandate to support the transition, continues to closely follow the situation and reiterates the need for good management of the process whose ultimate objective is the holding of free and democratic elections in 2005,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, William Lacy Swing, made morale-boosting visits to MONUC staff in Kalemie, Manono, Bujumbura and Lubumbashi.