Lack of aircraft hindering Congo mission, UN says

Mon Nov 2, 2009

The UN Mission in Congo (MONUC) is having trouble protecting civilians across the Democratic Republic of Congo because it does not have enough aircraft, a UN official says.

"We are still lacking, I think, 16 military helicopters. And we are still lacking a C-130. We are requesting that from many member states," the Reuters news agency quoted the chief of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Alain Le Roy, as saying during a visit to the Central African nation on Sunday.

Thousands of UN peacekeepers are supporting the Congolese army's efforts to root out Rwandan rebels, who are seen as a root cause of a decade of conflict.

In the eastern Congo, the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and Hutu extremists of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) have caused untold suffering for thousands of civilians.

Congo launched an offensive in January against the militias, which have been destabilizing the Great Lakes region for years. Some of the guerrillas even participated in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

The eastern Congo has experienced interminable cycles of violence since the war began in 1998.

The conflict has dragged on for over a decade and left over 5.4 million people dead.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110211.html.