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Title: MaximsNewsNetwork: DR CONGO & CHAD UN HUMANITARIAN COORDINATORS: UN PEACEKEEPERS View count: 79 Rating: 5.0 (1 ratings) Description: MaximsNewsNetwork: 12 November 2009 - UNTV: United Nations: UN Humanitarian coordinators Ross Mountain and Michele Falavigna provide and update on the humanitarian situations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad. The top priority for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the protection of civilians from abuse, be it from the government forces that it is mandated to support or armed rebel groups, a senior official said today (12 November). UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the DRC, Ross Mountain told a news briefing in New York that there has been extraordinary progress in utilizing innovatively the military to protect civilians, but said that was not enough. He noted that ten years ago the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had over 40,000 troops to stabilize Kosovo, a territory of 10,000 square kilometers, while the UN mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, is only now moving up from 17,000 uniformed personnel to 20,000 to help bring security to a country of 2.4 million square kilometers. In October the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Philip Alston, accused DRC troops of killing, raping or mutilating scores of civilians this year in what he called catastrophic joint military operations with UN peacekeepers to weed out mainly Rwandan Hutu rebels in the eastern Kivu provinces. The issue of such abuse has been raised several times recently, and earlier this month Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy called for a probe into the targeted killing of dozens of civilians in the DRCs strife-torn east by military elements. Regarding sexual abuse and exploitation perpetrated by UN peacekeepers, Mountain said that a zero tolerance policy "doesnt mean that cases do not occur; it means they are not tolerated but added that allegations of misconduct have gone down very dramatically. Mountain, who leaves his post this week after serving for five years as Humanitarian Coordinator and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moons Deputy Special Representative for the DRC, said that overall he wanted to paint a positive picture when considering the situation the war-torn country was in ten years ago. At another press conference later in the day, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Chad Michele Falavigna, who has been on the job for three months, spoke of the difficulties facing his mission. He said that feeding and sheltering people is not enough to give them a decent life and that the current budget, which only covers three percent on health, two percent on education means that, we a re not fulfilling our mission. Falavigna expressed doubts about the national elections slated for 2010, saying that the peace agreement signed on 17 August 2007 has laid out such a complicated process for the elections 2010 that to roll it out in its integrality, elections will not happen in 2010. According to UNHCR armed banditry is the greatest security threat for aid workers in eastern Chad, where humanitarian agencies are working to assist some 250,000 refugees from neighboring Sudan since 2003, as well as 160,000 internally displaced Chadians since 2006. MaximsNewsNetwork: News Network for the United Nations and the International Community. See: http://www.MaximsNews.com. "GIVING POWER & RESONANCE TO THE VOICE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY" . Tags: democratic republic congo dr, chad, untv, un humanitarian coordinators, ross mountain, michele falavigna, Author: MaximsNewsNetwork |
