DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: UN chief Ban Ki-Moon vows action on war-torn Congo and Darfur

Addressing Democratic Republic of Congo's newly-elected parliament on the first leg of an Africa tour, Ban sought to allay fears the United Nations would reduce the world's largest peacekeeping mission after last year's post-war elections. UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, on his first visit to Africa since taking office, promised the people of war-torn Congo on Saturday (January 27) they could rely on United Nations' support and vowed to tackle regional crises gripping Darfur and Somalia. He acknowledged the enormous challenge facing the former Belgian colony at the heart of Africa after a 1998-2003 war that killed some 4 million people, mostly through hunger and disease. "The creation of a professional police force and army, well paid and well equipped is a priority," Ban said, adding that progress in this respect would allow local and national authorities to take over responsibilities. Some 200,000 people have died in Darfur since rebels took up arms in 2003, accusing Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's government of discriminating against the province. Khartoum responded by arming local ethnic militias. Ban's visit to Congo came amid concerns that a meeting of the Security Council in the middle of next month could decide to reduce the strength of the UN mission in Congo (MONUC) from its current level of 17,000 peacekeepers. Despite a 2003 peace accord that officially ended Congo's conflict, human rights violations are widespread across the country, particularly in the volatile east, where Congo's army regularly clashes with armed militias. Humanitarian workers estimated that more than 1,200 people die a day in Congo from violence, hunger and disease, in what some call the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Ban is expected to travel to an African Union summit in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on Monday (January 29) to personally discuss regional conflicts with the continent's leaders, particularly the four-year-old crisis in Sudan's western Darfur region and ongoing violence in post-war Somalia.

ITN Source | January 28, 2007

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