UN Ponders Buying Weapons From DRC

Felix Osike in Bafwasende, DRC THE UN Security Council is considering a proposal to buy weapons from the renegade armies in the DR Congo as part of a peace initiative, a UN official said here on Sunday. Under the Lusaka protocol 11 agreement, the UN is mandated to commission a project to work out a programme for demobilising the renegade armies from the region, including the possibility of an amnesty. “One option being considered for disarming the negative forces is by purchasing rifles from them,” he said in an interview. The non-government forces operating in the DRC, which are to be disarmed include, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the former Uganda National Army (FUNA), the Interahamwe genocidaires and the West Nile Bank Front (WNBF). Others are the former Rwandese Army (Ex-FAR) and the Burundian Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD). A special task force made up of elements from the belligerent forces, who are signatory to the Lusaka Accord shall be formed for the purpose of mobilising manpower and resources to track down any renegade forces which may be unwilling to surrender. The Joint Military Commission shall designate the assembled forces to bases and location identified by it. The UN will then set up a mechanism for screening, with a view to apprehending, trying or punishing all mass killers, perpetrators of crimes against humanity and related criminals. Meanwhile, Captain Johan Potgieter, the Kampala-based senior military liaison officer for the UN Peace Mission in the DRC Congo, on Saturday flew to Bafwasende to oversee the withdrawal of the UPDF. The withdrawal from the northeastern Congolese town of Bafwasende has been slowed down by heavy rain and impassable roads. Potgieter said he got clearance from MONUC Kinshasa, to visit the UPDF base. “The withdrawal is going on well although slightly behind schedule,” he said. He was accompanied by the deputy director of Military Intelligence, Lt. Col. Fred Mugisha, army spokesman Lt. Col. Phinehas Katirima, the co-ordinator of Operation Safe Haven, Lt. Col. James Musinguzi and Lt. Yerinde Tumwebaze. Katirima and Mugisha addressed hundreds of Congolese civilians who urged the UPDF not to leave. Some of the equipment is stuck and food supplies are being sent after an interval of two weeks. The troops walking a distance of 520km from Bafwabwoli are expected in Beni by the end of this month. Mugisha informed the Congolese of the peace efforts in the region and the implementation of the Lusaka Accord. All individual debts were paid off prior to the arrival of the team there. Other institutional UPDF debts amounted to US$740 for medical bills and 800 litres of fuel. Alobe Litolombo, who spoke on behalf of the Congolese community, said their security was not guaranteed with the departure of UPDF. Ends