NAN-F-24
Accusation
New York, March 29, 2017 (Reuters/NAN) The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, on Wednesday accused the world body’s peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo to aiding a government that was “corrupt and preys on its citizens.”
Haley made the accusation while briefing the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
“The UN peacekeeping mission is mandated to partner with the government.
“In other words the UN is aiding a government that is inflicting predatory behavior against its own people.
“We should have the decency and common sense to end this,” she said.
Haley’s comments came two days before the expiration of the mandate for the 1.2 billion dollars United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo .
The confidential Security Council negotiations on its renewal are taking place amid UN warnings that violence is spreading across Congo ahead of planned elections before the end of 2017.
The U. S. wants the troop cap to be cut by a quarter to 15,000, diplomats said, and despite a request by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to add two extra police units – 320 officers – Washington does not want to change the current total of 1,050.
Adding to the tensions was the announcement this week that villagers had discovered the bodies of two UN investigators and their Congolese interpreter who went missing this month in Kasai Central province, an area engulfed in a violent uprising.
Resource-rich Congo, which gained independence from colonial power Belgium in 1960, has never had a peaceful transition of power.
President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to stand down when his final term expired in December raised fears the chronically unstable country could slide back into civil war.
Opposition leaders signed a fragile deal with the ruling coalition and allies of Kabila on Dec. 31 that requires him to step down after elections that must happen by the end of 2017.
“Failure to move ahead with the accord clearly thwarts the will of the Congolese people and jeopardizes the progress achieved thus far,” acting U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Tuesday.
“The United States urges government and opposition leaders to refrain from any statements or actions that could incite violence or unrest,” he said in a statement.(Reuters/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Sadiya Hamza