UN
United Nations Peacekeeping
3 Mar
2009
MONUC celebrates Peacekeepers' Day on Saturday 29 May 2004
The second International Peacekeepers' Day will be marked this 29 May. On that day, MONUC plans to organise several events in the area of its deployments and a message of the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan will be published. The announcement was made Wednesday by MONUC spokesman, Hamadoun Touré, during the UN weekly press conference.
Mr. Touré said that the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, which is led by Mr. Jean-Marie Guéhenno who is currently visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo, has initiated 15 missions in three continents and employs 53,000 men and women, including 49,000 military troops and observers as well as 4,800 civilian police members.
In the DRC, MONUC employs 13,093 staff members consisted of 10,756 military troops including 10,000 troops, 138 civilian police officers, 688 international civilian staff, 361 UN volunteers and 1,153 national staff (Congolese).
MONUC military spokesman, Commandant Abou Thiam, in turn, explained the work carried out by MONUC peacekeepers in Ituri where, in addition to the peacekeeping mission of securing the populations and their properties, they conducted a number of social and economic activities in favour of the population. The military spokesman cited the example of the MONUC Nepalese company involved in the rehabilitation of communication system and bridges indicating that a bridge in the Nyarwodo village was named by the local population Bahadur Darai bridge, after a Nepalese soldier killed in an accident last month on that road. ?? Apart from the rehabilitation operations of the communication system, they also provide medical cares, school stationery, rehabilitation and construction of playing grounds??, Commandant Thiam said.
Furthermore, the military spokesman announced that MONUC Force Commander, General Iliya Sumaïla visited Rwanda on 19 to 20 May. ??The purpose of the visit was to create a coordinating mechanism with a view to eradicating insecurity in the border zone between the DRC and Rwanda??, he added.
Asked about the Disarmament and Community Reintegration process of Ituri militiamen, after consulting with their leaders in Kinshasa, Hamadoun Touré added that the latter returned to Ituri last Monday and are currently holding talks with the Director of MONUC Office in Bunia, in order to determine the modalities for implementing the Act of Engagement signed in Kinshasa. MONUC is also working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and in conjunction with the « Commission Nationale de Désarmement et Reinsertion des combattants (CONADER) », in a bid to accelerate the process, MONUC Spokesman concluded.
In the DRC, MONUC employs 13,093 staff members consisted of 10,756 military troops including 10,000 troops, 138 civilian police officers, 688 international civilian staff, 361 UN volunteers and 1,153 national staff (Congolese).
MONUC military spokesman, Commandant Abou Thiam, in turn, explained the work carried out by MONUC peacekeepers in Ituri where, in addition to the peacekeeping mission of securing the populations and their properties, they conducted a number of social and economic activities in favour of the population. The military spokesman cited the example of the MONUC Nepalese company involved in the rehabilitation of communication system and bridges indicating that a bridge in the Nyarwodo village was named by the local population Bahadur Darai bridge, after a Nepalese soldier killed in an accident last month on that road. ?? Apart from the rehabilitation operations of the communication system, they also provide medical cares, school stationery, rehabilitation and construction of playing grounds??, Commandant Thiam said.
Furthermore, the military spokesman announced that MONUC Force Commander, General Iliya Sumaïla visited Rwanda on 19 to 20 May. ??The purpose of the visit was to create a coordinating mechanism with a view to eradicating insecurity in the border zone between the DRC and Rwanda??, he added.
Asked about the Disarmament and Community Reintegration process of Ituri militiamen, after consulting with their leaders in Kinshasa, Hamadoun Touré added that the latter returned to Ituri last Monday and are currently holding talks with the Director of MONUC Office in Bunia, in order to determine the modalities for implementing the Act of Engagement signed in Kinshasa. MONUC is also working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and in conjunction with the « Commission Nationale de Désarmement et Reinsertion des combattants (CONADER) », in a bid to accelerate the process, MONUC Spokesman concluded.
