Britain’s Africa minister said yesterday that the UK could send troops to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) if a fragile ceasefire between rebel fighters and the army fails.
Mark Malloch-Brown said Britain has a contingency plan to deploy forces to bolster the efforts of UN peacekeepers if violence escalates.
The foreign ministers of France and Britain flew into the DRC yesterday on an EU mission to try to secure peace in the east and help tens of thousands of civilians fleeing the conflict.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband were due to meet Congolese President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa and travel to the eastern city of Goma, threatened by an offensive by Tutsi rebels last week.
The attacks by fighters loyal to rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda and subsequent killings and looting by Congolese army troops have driven thousands of families from their homes in North Kivu Province on the border with Rwanda.
Fearing more violence, the displaced civilians are seeking shelter, water and food in what aid workers are calling a catastrophic humanitarian situation.
Three days ago, Nkunda declared a ceasefire after his rebels fought to the gates of Goma, forcing back Congo’s army and UN peacekeepers. UN officials have said the truce is fragile.
Kouchner, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, and Miliband are due to look at the possibility of an EU humanitarian airlift into North Kivu that could be protected by EU troops on the ground.
The two European ministers will later travel from the DRC to neighboring Rwanda for talks with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
The DRC and Rwanda have accused each other of backing rebel groups involved in the eastern Congo violence.
At talks in Kinshasa and Kigali, EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel obtained the agreement of Kabila and Kagame on Friday to meet at a summit to discuss the conflict.
The UN, EU and the US have been urgently lobbying the two leaders to make a lasting peace deal that will end any support for insurgent groups and pacify the violence-plagued region.
The UN said Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who is African Union (AU) chairman, and AU Commission chief Jean Ping had proposed in telephone talks with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that a regional summit should be held over the Congo conflict.
Nkunda, who says he is fighting to defend the Tutsi minority in Congo’s east, abandoned a January peace deal and has called for a neutral mediator to negotiate.
An estimated 1 million people have been forced from their homes in North Kivu by two years of violence that has persisted despite the end of a 1998 to 2003 war in the vast former Belgian colony, which is rich in copper, cobalt, gold and diamonds.
The world’s largest UN peacekeeping force, 17,000-strong, is deployed in the DRC, but has been badly stretched by rebel and militia violence on several fronts and was not able to halt Nkunda’s rapid advance on Goma.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
RSS