UN
United Nations Peacekeeping
5 Mar
2009
Press Review
Today's local papers in Kinshasa focus on the conclusions drawn by the third African Union summit (AU) relating to the DRC crisis and the tensions in North Kivu following several arrests by the military police.
The African Union summit held in Addis-Ababa from 6 to 8 July 2004 had its day, L'Observateur recalls, indicating that the AU, through this ''big service'', renewed its confidence in the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The paper notes that ''this is a more conciliatory and consensual position than the one of the AU chairman, Alpha Oumar Konare, expressed to the Peace and Security Council of the African Union''. The paper further says that the AU called on DRC and Rwanda to normalise their bilateral relations. ''The appeal is justified by the new tensions between both countries following the capture of Bukavu by the dissident soldiers backed by Kigali'', the paper explains.
In Addis-Ababa, the DRC crisis was addressed by a mini-summit alongside the AU summit. During the mini-summit on the DRC crisis, the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan reportedly banged his fists on the table, Le Palmarès says, due to ''Kagame's attempts to disrupt the DRC transition'', the paper writes, echoing Mr. Kofi Annan's statement: ''I will no longer tolerate attempts for the destabilisation of the Democratic Republic of Congo''. Annan and Kagame has been ''at odds'' over the Rwandan genocide, the paper says, indicating that ''Annan took revenge on the arrogant Kagame when reacting to his outburst in Addis-Ababa''.
La Tempête des Tropiques headlines: The African Union has appealed to MONUC and the International Community to take their responsibilities regarding the DRC issue. The paper indicates that ''the summit backed the Congolese position regarding the implementation of chapter VII of the UN charter by MONUC in DRC in order to restore and keep the peace and security in the country''.
In this development, L'Observateur echoes the statement made by the European Union's Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region, Mr. Ajello who also attended the AU summit. Mr. Ajello was in favour of the reinforcement of the DRC transitional Institutions' capacity in order to ''avoid parallel institutions that will end up creating an unhealthy climate'', and ''the substantive reinforcement of MONUC's capacity in term of quality''; to ''make it an effective deterrent force against those who would attempt to disrupt the DRC transitional process''.
With regard to the Bukavu events, L'Observateur reports that the European Union Special Envoy declared himself unable to ''either confirm or disprove Rwandan implication in favour of the dissident soldiers''.
In this regard, La Référence Plus has published a memorandum issued by South Kivu civil society providing proofs of Rwandan implication in the capture of Bukavu. The document published in full by the paper says that ''combat tanks of Rwandan army 'with military equipments and troops to back Nkunda and Mutebutsi are still visible in Kamanyola''.
Panic in Goma!, L'Avenir headlines and Le Potentiel echoes. Through this alarming title, the two papers refer to ''irregular verification operations'' conducted by Military Police officers to ''mainly track down criminals and armed robbers''. Le Potentiel quotes a MONUC spokesman interviewed by AFP as declaring that ''42 people were interrogated and ten weapons including twenty military clothes were seized by Military Police Officers''. According to L'Avenir, this search operation of the weapons and criminals was construed as ''a forceful recruitment'' and raised suspicion among the population. ''The population suspected the commander of the Military Police of attempting to recruit combatants by force for the aggressors'', the paper says, indicating ''it is strange that the Military Police officers who undertook the arrests travelled to the scene on board four vehicles with Rwandan license plates''.
In Addis-Ababa, the DRC crisis was addressed by a mini-summit alongside the AU summit. During the mini-summit on the DRC crisis, the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan reportedly banged his fists on the table, Le Palmarès says, due to ''Kagame's attempts to disrupt the DRC transition'', the paper writes, echoing Mr. Kofi Annan's statement: ''I will no longer tolerate attempts for the destabilisation of the Democratic Republic of Congo''. Annan and Kagame has been ''at odds'' over the Rwandan genocide, the paper says, indicating that ''Annan took revenge on the arrogant Kagame when reacting to his outburst in Addis-Ababa''.
La Tempête des Tropiques headlines: The African Union has appealed to MONUC and the International Community to take their responsibilities regarding the DRC issue. The paper indicates that ''the summit backed the Congolese position regarding the implementation of chapter VII of the UN charter by MONUC in DRC in order to restore and keep the peace and security in the country''.
In this development, L'Observateur echoes the statement made by the European Union's Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region, Mr. Ajello who also attended the AU summit. Mr. Ajello was in favour of the reinforcement of the DRC transitional Institutions' capacity in order to ''avoid parallel institutions that will end up creating an unhealthy climate'', and ''the substantive reinforcement of MONUC's capacity in term of quality''; to ''make it an effective deterrent force against those who would attempt to disrupt the DRC transitional process''.
With regard to the Bukavu events, L'Observateur reports that the European Union Special Envoy declared himself unable to ''either confirm or disprove Rwandan implication in favour of the dissident soldiers''.
In this regard, La Référence Plus has published a memorandum issued by South Kivu civil society providing proofs of Rwandan implication in the capture of Bukavu. The document published in full by the paper says that ''combat tanks of Rwandan army 'with military equipments and troops to back Nkunda and Mutebutsi are still visible in Kamanyola''.
Panic in Goma!, L'Avenir headlines and Le Potentiel echoes. Through this alarming title, the two papers refer to ''irregular verification operations'' conducted by Military Police officers to ''mainly track down criminals and armed robbers''. Le Potentiel quotes a MONUC spokesman interviewed by AFP as declaring that ''42 people were interrogated and ten weapons including twenty military clothes were seized by Military Police Officers''. According to L'Avenir, this search operation of the weapons and criminals was construed as ''a forceful recruitment'' and raised suspicion among the population. ''The population suspected the commander of the Military Police of attempting to recruit combatants by force for the aggressors'', the paper says, indicating ''it is strange that the Military Police officers who undertook the arrests travelled to the scene on board four vehicles with Rwandan license plates''.
