UN changes name of mission in Congo before draw-down in 2011

(Associated Press via Scott Morgan)

New York - The UN Security Council decided Friday to extend the mandate of its world largest peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo until 2011 as it prepares to pull out of the African nation.

The UN Mission in Congo will in July become known as the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in Congo (MONUSCO) to mark the new phase under which the Kinshasa government will take over security responsibility in the vast territory.

The peacekeeping force will comprise a maximum of 19,800 military personnel and close to 2,000 police and military observers, whose mandate in Congo will expire June 30, 2011.

The first draw down of 2,000 UN military personnel will take place at the end of June.

The council said in a resolution that the withdrawal of MONUSCO will be conditioned to the development on the ground in Congo's northern and eastern provinces, in particular in the Kivus where a military operation was underway.

Other conditions include Kinshasa's effectiveness in providing security to its people and on the consolidation of its control over the territory, which require the deployment of civil administration, police and imposition of rule of law.

Relief organizations and some UN officials have warned that the humanitarian situation in conflict areas in Congo may worsen without the presence of UN peacekeepers. Oxfam International warned that the UN draw down could be bad news for Congolese.

'Congo needs each peacekeeper that it has, every pair of boots counts,' said Marcel Stoessel, head of Oxfam in Congo. 'While we'd like to see them be more proactive and effective in their daily operations, peacekeepers continue to have an important deterrent effect, particularly in eastern Congo.'

Oxfam said some 162,000 Congolese have become displaced because of the fighting this year alone while the continues to report of murder and mass rape.