French Army Gets Entebbe
Jun 04, 2003
KAMPALA, Tuesday - A delegation of French officials was due to arrive in Uganda on Monday for discussions with President Yoweri Museveni over the possible use of Uganda’s Entebbe airport as a rear base for a French-led international peacekeeping force to patrol Bunia, northeastern Democratic Repub
KAMPALA, Tuesday - A delegation of French officials was due to arrive in Uganda on Monday for discussions with President Yoweri Museveni over the possible use of Uganda’s Entebbe airport as a rear base for a French-led international peacekeeping force to patrol Bunia, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to French diplomatic sources.
“The first question we had to ask is will the Ugandan government accept to allow us to use Entebbe?†Jean-Bernard Thiant, the French Ambassador to Uganda, told IRIN on Sunday. “To this the answer is yes.â€
The move follows the unanimous decision by the UN Security Council to authorise the deployment of an international emergency force to help stabilise the situation in the embattled Ituri District of northeastern DRC.
The multinational force, expected to consist of 1,400 men, of whom 700 would be French, would ensure the protection of the Bunia airport, internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the camps in Bunia and, if the situation requires it, to participate in the protection of the population, UN personnel and the humanitarian presence in the town, UN News reported.
Thiant told IRIN that Entebbe was chosen because Bunia airport was too small to land the large aircraft needed to ferry supplies from France.
“That leaves Kisangani as far as Congolese sites are concerned,†he said, “but this has the problem that Kisangani’s international and domestic airports are miles apart. Equipment would have to be transported between them on poor roads.â€
“After studying various solutions we realised that Entebbe is the only solution,†he said. “Since then we have been cooperating closely with the Ugandan Government. But we still have to negotiate the conditions.â€
The French-led multinational force has been constituted under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which authorises it to use military force in response to “any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggressionâ€.
The Council said the force is to be deployed on a strictly temporary basis - until September 1 to reinforce MONUC, the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC.
In that regard, Resolution 1484 authorised UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to deploy a reinforced UN presence in Bunia by mid-August.
Resolution 1484 also called on UN member states to contribute personnel, equipment, financial and logistical resources to the multinational force, and called specifically on countries in the Great Lakes region to provide all necessary support to facilitate its swift deployment in Bunia.
Bunia has been the scene of periodic eruptions of economically-motivated ethnic violence for several years, most recently with the withdrawal of the Ugandan army in April.
IRIN
Ends
“The first question we had to ask is will the Ugandan government accept to allow us to use Entebbe?†Jean-Bernard Thiant, the French Ambassador to Uganda, told IRIN on Sunday. “To this the answer is yes.â€
The move follows the unanimous decision by the UN Security Council to authorise the deployment of an international emergency force to help stabilise the situation in the embattled Ituri District of northeastern DRC.
The multinational force, expected to consist of 1,400 men, of whom 700 would be French, would ensure the protection of the Bunia airport, internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the camps in Bunia and, if the situation requires it, to participate in the protection of the population, UN personnel and the humanitarian presence in the town, UN News reported.
Thiant told IRIN that Entebbe was chosen because Bunia airport was too small to land the large aircraft needed to ferry supplies from France.
“That leaves Kisangani as far as Congolese sites are concerned,†he said, “but this has the problem that Kisangani’s international and domestic airports are miles apart. Equipment would have to be transported between them on poor roads.â€
“After studying various solutions we realised that Entebbe is the only solution,†he said. “Since then we have been cooperating closely with the Ugandan Government. But we still have to negotiate the conditions.â€
The French-led multinational force has been constituted under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which authorises it to use military force in response to “any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggressionâ€.
The Council said the force is to be deployed on a strictly temporary basis - until September 1 to reinforce MONUC, the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC.
In that regard, Resolution 1484 authorised UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to deploy a reinforced UN presence in Bunia by mid-August.
Resolution 1484 also called on UN member states to contribute personnel, equipment, financial and logistical resources to the multinational force, and called specifically on countries in the Great Lakes region to provide all necessary support to facilitate its swift deployment in Bunia.
Bunia has been the scene of periodic eruptions of economically-motivated ethnic violence for several years, most recently with the withdrawal of the Ugandan army in April.
IRIN
Ends