President Laurent Kabila has authorised the deployment of United Nations military observers to monitor the ceasefire in government-controlled areas of democratic Congo, the head of the UN mission said on Thursday. ''Ministers have informed me of the authorisation to deploy UN forces on the territory controlled by the government,'' Kamel Morjane told journalists.
''Now we can restart our necessary preparations so that the deployment can take place as soon as possible,'' Morjane said, adding that he had been informed of the decision late last night. Morjane did not give a date for the start of the deployment and said that the government's decision announced on Wednesday. To suspend the Lusaka peace accords that were supposed to end the war in Congo would not have an effect on the UN deployment.
''If the (UN) secretray-general judges that the conditions are in place, I think that we can go ahead with the deployment even if the Lusaka peace process may have some problems in other areas,'' Morjane said.
Bureau Report