The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of Congo, William Lacy Swing, leaves Kinshasa this Thursday for New York for consultations about the Mission's mandate, MONUC spokesman, Hamadoun Touré told the Mission's weekly news conference on Wednesday.
Mr. Touré recalled that MONUC mandate would expire on 31 July. At this prospect, the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, will submit a new report on MONUC activities to the Security Council, with concrete proposals about the Mission's urgent needs, he underscored. ''The Security Council will then determine the additional resources to avail to Monuc in order to better fulfil its mandate'', he added.
Moreover, MONUC applauded the induction of the Bunia district commissioner, Ms. Pétronille Vaweka, and 4 other administrators. ''This is a meaningful step towards the reunification of the territory'', Mr. Toure indicated, noting that these nominations mark the end of the emergency administration in Ituri. MONUC contributed a lot to the return of Government authority in this district, the Spokesman highlighted.
Mr. Toure conveyed the Special Representative's condolences to the bereaved affected by the Shinkolobwe tragedy, near Lubumbashi, following the collapse of a mine. MONUC is participating in the inter-agency mission tasked to establish the circumstances surrounding the disaster, the number of victims and assess humanitarian needs and ecological threat caused by the accident, Mr. Toure indicated.
MONUC military spokesman, Major Abou Thiam, in turn, deplored continuing fighting in Mahagi district, between the Front des Nationalistes et Intégrationnistes (FNI) and the Forces Armées du Peuple Congolais (FAPC). ''The fighting allegedly left 48 dead, including 27 FNI members, 14 FAPC members and 4 civilians'', Major Thiam indicated.
Referring to the situation in the Kivus, the military spokesman informed the press that the Kivu brigades transported the DRC National Examination Papers to Minova and different centres.
Kivu Brigade also deployed a liaison patrol to Minova, to meet with Mr. Laurent Nkunda. The objective of the meeting with the dissident General of the DRC armed forces (FARDC) was to ''verify the allegations of children's recruitment, tax deductions for war effort, the putting-in-place of a parallel administration and bellicose inclinations on Bukavu''. According to Major Thiam, Laurent Nkunda dismissed all these allegations and reiterated his loyalty to the Transition's Government. But this declaration of faith did not keep MONUC from warning Mr. Nkunda that it (MONUC) would use ''appropriate retaliatory action'' against a new attack on Bukavu. ''We will fight any one attempting to take Bukavu'', Major Thiam added.
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