UN probe into alleged massacre in remote northeast of DR Congo continues

UN probe into alleged massacre in remote northeast of DR Congo continues
From UN News Centre, 29 March 2010:

Photo: Refugees who fled LRA attacks in DRC being registered in Gangura, southern Sudan

United Nations inquiries are continuing into a recent massacre of civilians in the remote northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), reportedly by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a UN spokesperson confirmed today.

The killings are reported to have occurred in the village of Mabanga in December, and human rights groups say at least 320 people were murdered. Machetes, axes and heavy wooden sticks were apparently used to carry out the killings.

Martin Nesirky, the Secretary-General’s spokesperson, told reporters in New York that the UN cannot confirm the exact number of victims until the formal investigation by the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (known as MONUC) has been completed.

The extreme remoteness of the area and the fact that witnesses may have moved were delaying efforts to gather reliable information, he said.

Mr. Nesirky said that MONUC strives to provide protection to all civilians in the area, but given the vast size of the territory, peacekeepers were only able to concentrate their efforts on the most populated areas.

The mission, however, continued to provide support to Government troops carrying out operations against the LRA, a notorious rebel group formed in Uganda in the 1980s whose leaders have been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on war crimes charges.

Asked about MONUC’s strategy in dealing with the LRA, whose members often cross the border into the DRC and other neighbouring countries, Mr. Nesirky noted that the head of MONUC, Alan Doss, had reiterated that the area involved was equivalent to the size of Spain and protecting all civilians at all times was not feasible.

UNMIS & MONUC to reconstruct road linking S. Sudan and DR Congo - Riek Machar visits Kenya to discuss a proposed peace agreement between Uganda & LRA

November 12, 2008 (KHARTOUM) report from Anyuak Media by SRS - Road to Link UN Missions In Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo:

GOSS [Government of South Sudan] Vice President Dr. Riek Machar says he has reached an agreement with the United Nations Mission in Sudan to reconstruct the road linking southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Speaking in Nairobi on Friday, Dr. Machar said UNMIS will construct the road from Maridi in Western Equatoria state to Ri-kwamba on the border with the DRC.

MONUC, the UN mission to the DRC, has said it will also construct a road to the Sudanese border from the DRC side.

Dr. Machar said that apart from connecting Sudan’s UNMIS [UN Mission in Sudan] and the DRC’s MONUC by land, the road would facilitate transport and trade between Western Equatoria state and the DRC.

Dr. Riek Machar was in Nairobi to discuss a proposed peace agreement between Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Machar met DRC President Joseph Kabila at the meeting in Nairobi to talk about co-coordinating UN forces in Uganda and the DRC.

The two discussed the possibility of stationing some members of the Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team (CHMT) with UN MONUC forces inside the DRC to monitor the movement and activities of the LRA.

CHMT is composed of senior army officers from Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, the DRC, Uganda, southern Sudan and the LRA.

The team was established in Juba [South Sudan] to monitor the ceasefire agreement signed two years ago between the Uganda government and the LRA.

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Cross posted today at Sudan Watch.

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Credit: AFP & AP photos and BBC captions from BBC report Monday, 27 October 2008 - In pictures: Thousands flee Congo fighting