United Nations wants ‘security guarantees’ to monitor DR Congo ceasefire

The United Nations said on Tuesday that it wants “security guarantees” from warring parties in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to enable its soldiers to use a key airport for monitoring a planned ceasefire.

“We won’t send our helicopters flying with our personnel when there are risks of jamming, as has happened, risks of drones in the immediate vicinity of our helicopters, and so on,” said UN deputy secretary-general, Jean-Pierre Lacroix.

The Congolese army has been fighting armed groups in the mineral-rich east of the country for decades.

But there was a major escalation in the conflict early last year when the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels captured the key city of Goma, which is where the closest UN peacekeeping base is located.

Its international airport has been closed since the city was seized.

Kinshasa and Kigali signed a US-brokered peace deal in Washington in December but that has not stopped the fighting.

It provides for the United Nations mission in DRC, (MONUSCO), to monitor events on the ground with a view to implementing a more permanent ceasefire.

“We are not yet, and far from it, in a situation where there is an effective ceasefire in the East,” said Lacroix.

The UN mission is expected to be deployed in the coming weeks from Uvira, located on the Burundi border.

It was seized by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in December before they withdrew under pressure from the United States.

Lacroix said that while the M23 has pulled back from Uvira, it remains nearby, and the Congolese state is “in the process of redeploying their presence”

“First, we will need aerial reconnaissance, then deploy a limited number of personnel on the ground in Uvira and then possibly deploy a more substantial presence,” Lacroix said.

Helicopters for reconnaissance missions would “probably need to be able to leave from Goma airport,” he said and would need “security guarantees from all actors”.

Aid workers operating in the area have asked for Goma airport to be reopened.

Nearly 8,000 UN peacekeepers are deployed in eastern DRC, including contingents from Kenya, Pakistan, South America, Tanzania and elsewhere.