News Analysis: DR Congo, UN mission in talks over cooperation in peacekeeping

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) and the UN Mission for Stabilization of Congo (MONUSCO) continued with their talks that began several weeks ago, to agree on the mode of cooperation between the UN peacekeepers and the Congolese army.

MONUSCO suspended its support for the Congolese army in operations to pursue the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) following the refusal by the Congolese government to meet its demand on suspension from the operation of generals Sikabwe Fall and Bruno Mandefu. The two commanders are suspected of having committed human rights violations in the past.

On Feb. 26, 2015, DR Congo's Foreign Minister Raymond Tshibanda said the UN was the first to suspend its support to the Congolese army. "It is after this that we responded," he said.

Speaking on March 11 this year, MONUSCO boss Martin Kobler admitted that "relations between the UN mission and the Congolese government were going through rough times."

The statement raised diverse interpretations, with a diplomatic source saying this pointed to a complete breakdown of relations between the peacekeepers and the Congolese army.

However, Kobler denied information that the two parties had ceased cooperating, adding that "the two parties were collaborating to track down Ugandan rebels, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the east of the country."

"Against the ADF, it's real cooperation, nothing has so far changed," he affirmed when he addressed the press in Kinshasa.

The differences between the two sides were increased on March 26 when the UN Security Council meeting in New York voted to extend MONUSCO's mandate for one year until March 31, 2016 through Resolution 2211 of 2015.

In the resolution that was adopted unanimously, "the Council urged for cooperation between the Congolese government and MONUSCO in carrying out the operations, to ensure total neutralization of FDLR."

According to the Resolution, only 2,000 peacekeepers were to be withdrawn from this UN mission, yet DR congo government had called for withdrawal of at least 5,000 peacekeepers.

The UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo remains the largest in the world, with its current figure standing at 20,000 officers and an annual budget of 1.4 billion U.S. dollars.

However, the Resolution gave the Security Council a window for ordering further reductions of the officers, although this was preconditioned on the mission helping to "stabilize and democratize the country."

One of the proposals that angered Kinshasa was that of withdrawal of UN's rapid intervention brigade of 3,000 officers which has been the backbone of the UN force.

Due to disagreements over several issues, the UN mission and Congolese authorities opened negotiations in Kinshasa, attended by high ranking officials from both sides.

The strategic dialogue over the future of UN mission saw DR Congo's Foreign Minister Tshabanda meeting with UN's Under- Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Herve Ladsous, who made an official visit to Kinshasa on April 22, 2015.

Speaking after the meeting, Ladsous said he had recommended that MONUSCO should implement Security Council's Resolution 2211.

"It is by doing this that we shall find a balance between MONUSCO's objectives set by the Security Council and the legitimate concerns of the Congolese government," he said, adding that "negotiations were still ongoing."

Asked about the reduction of MONUSCO numbers, Ladsous remained formal: "Everybody agrees on the need to reduce the number of MONUSCO soldiers, the question is to determine by how many."

"The number of UN peacekeepers in DR Congo will be reduced without weakening the mission," he reiterated.

Although he expressed optimism for a positive outcome from the ongoing talks, the UN official warned that "the negotiations may take longer due to vested interests." Endi