The Security Council on Friday authorized the withdrawal of up to 2,000 troops from the UN peacekeeping force in Congo (MONUC) over the next month, but made no pledge on further cuts despite pressure from Kinshasa.
Potential investors and human rights groups fear a too hasty withdrawal of the 20,500-member MONUC force would trigger more violence in a country struggling to recover from a 1998 to 2003 war and still battling rebels across its territory.
Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila wants the force out by the end of next year for what UN officials say are reasons of national pride.
A resolution passed unanimously by the 15-nation Security Council authorized “the withdrawal of up to 2,000 United Nations military personnel by 30 June 2010 from areas where the security situation permits.”
The resolution extended the mandate of MONUC — the largest UN peace force anywhere in the world — until the end of June, and said it would be renamed MONUSCO, a new French acronym that makes it a “stabilization” mission.
MONUSCO was authorized to stay in Congo for an additional year, and the council said future reductions in the force would depend on conditions on the ground and the achievement of goals by the Congo government and the UN force.
These would include completion of operations in the turbulent east against guerrilla groups including the Rwandan Hutu FDLR and the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army, as well as an improved ability by the government to protect its population.
Aid workers say Congolese army troops, as well as guerrilla groups, have committed atrocities, including murders, rapes and robberies, on civilians in eastern Congo, where competition to exploit valuable minerals combines with ethnic tensions.
The council was determined to avoid a security vacuum that could spawn more violence in the country, said the resolution, which passed at a brief council meeting.
Despite the lack of a solid commitment to remove MONUSCO next year, Congo’s Information Minister Lambert Mende said his country was happy with the resolution.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition