From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu May 20 2010 - 09:20:28 EDT
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34747&Cr=africa&Cr1=
African hot spots the focus of Security Council meeting
19 May 2010 – The simmering tensions and continued instability in both the
Horn of Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were under the
spotlight today as the Security Council met to discuss peace and security on
the continent.
Ambassador Gérard Araud of France, who led a three-day Council mission to
the DRC that concluded on Saturday, briefed the meeting on the trip and the
latest developments in the vast country, where the future of a United
Nations peacekeeping mission is under review.
The mandate of the mission (MONUC) – which began operations in 1999 – is due
to expire at the end of this month.
Mr. Araud told the meeting that the Council delegation met with DRC
President Joseph Kabila, other Congolese leaders and representatives of
civil society groups as part of a listening tour designed to facilitate more
dialogue between Kinshasa and the UN on the future of MONUC.
Any decision on MONUC’s future presence must take into account the situation
on the ground so as to prevent new outbreaks of instability, he stressed,
noting that security sector reform is a particular priority.
While the DRC has made progress on several fronts, conditions in the country
remain fragile, with the humanitarian and human rights situations especially
worrying.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommended in his latest report on the
mission that its 20,000-strong force begin a drawdown of troops by 30 June.
The Government has proposed a total withdrawal of the peacekeeping forces by
30 August 2011.
Also today, more than a dozen speakers, including Djibouti’s President
Ismail Omar Guelleh, discussed various problems affecting countries in the
Horn of Africa.
Somalia remains engulfed by one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises,
with millions of people either internally displaced or living as refugees in
neighbouring countries as Government forces fight Islamist rebels. Tensions
are also high in the ongoing border dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea
that flared in 2008.
Mr. Guelleh warned the Council that “the escalating tensions and conflicts,
the breakdown of law and order so widespread in the Horn of Africa, could be
but a prelude to a much worse situation unless its many causes are
sufficiently and seriously addressed.”
Representatives of Uganda, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Japan,
Mexico, Nigeria, the United States, Austria, Brazil, Turkey, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, China, Gabon and Lebanon also addressed the meeting.
The debate included discussions over the Horn of Africa’s chronic drought,
high food and fuel prices, the impact of climate change, economic
development and the problems caused by piracy.
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