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U.N. Says Troops Patrol DR Congo Zone As Ultimatum Ends
[AnNahar] U.N. peacekeepers on Thursday patrolled a security zone in a eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... city where they have given militia fighters an ultimatum to disarm, a front man said. The U.N. mission in the country, known as MONUSCO, had given the M23 rebels and other gangs inside the zone in Goma until Thursday to lay down their weapons. MONUSCO had said it was ready to use "force" to disarm fighters, who are accused of being behind a new surge in violence in the volatile region. But the United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... gave no immediate indication that military action had started or was planned. "MONUSCO peacekeepers are patrolling across the security zone in support of the Congolese armed forces," said U.N. peacekeeping front man Kieran Dwyer. "This will be an ongoing operation to protect civilians in a densely populated area," he added. The security zone takes in Goma and northern suburbs including a neighboring town of Sake. M23 rebels launched a new offensive against the army near Goma on July 14 but the area has been calm in recent days. Posted by: trailing wife 2013-08-02 |
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