UN Peace Keeping Operations in the DRC & the Sudan
Channel: Ahmed Fathi
Date: 2013-12-13

Press Conference with Mr. Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations. 
United Nations peacekeeping operations had made significant headway in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali this year, a senior official overseeing those missions told reporters at a Headquarters press conference today.

"It has been an active year," said Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, as he recalled major developments, including the Congolese army's victory against the 23 March Movement (M23) armed group.

A political agreement had been materialized in that country as a result of the Kampala talks, he said.  Following the military gains, a priority should be to go after other armed groups, such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), and the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU).

Means were in place, he said, referring to the Intervention Brigade that was now fully operational within the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and the unmanned aerial vehicles, launched recently for surveillance purposes.

Another priority was to deal with emerging situations, he said.  In North Kivu, the 2,300 ex-combatants who had laid down weapons must go through the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration progress.  It was also crucial not to create a "vacuum", he stressed, urging the Congolese Government to establish administration and deploy police and army in all places that had been liberated.
In the Sudan, 14 peacekeepers had been killed this year, with attacks by armed groups increasing, he said, adding that Darfur was home to more than 400,000 internally displaced people.  The Doha process needed to have more signatories because that was "the only game in town".

Turning to South Sudan, he said the challenge was to protect civilians in such places as the eastern Province of Jonglei, where a lack of infrastructure constrained mobility.  The military component of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was being redeployed to have better coverage in those provinces.  No progress had been made in the situation in Abyei.