No confidence in monusco, says Ugandan foreign minister

Regional countries no longer have trust in the UN Stabilisation mission in Congo, (MONUSCO), because, over the years, the latter has failed to pacify the eastern DRC.This was said by Henry Okello Oryem, the Ugandan State Minister for Foreign Affairs (International Affairs), while briefing Kampala-based diplomats on the outcomes of the just concluded Heads of State Summit of the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in Kampala.“ICGLR has lost faith in MONUSCO. If it was doing its job with its large numbers and budget, - I don’t think we would still have the crisis in the DRC today,” Oryem said.Uganda is currently holding the rotational chair of the ICGLR, which brings together 11 regional countries, and has been requested to seek diplomatic and technical support from the UN on various ICGLR initiatives.The minister was responding to a question from a European Union (EU) diplomat who wanted to know how the envisaged neutral international force would work along the UN force.The neutral force was mooted by the regional Heads of State because the UN mission, which consumes a whopping $1.2 billion a year, has failed to bring peace to the area, ten years after it was deployed.Oryem explained that member states came up with the idea of a neutral force after realising that the conflict was escalating and it risked engulfing many other countries.Tanzania has already offered to contribute troops to the neutral force which now awaits financial and logistical support from African states, regional and international partners.“We are all looking for the fundamental cause of what led to that crisis and those root causes can be addressed.”ICGLR member states have so far pledged 3 million USD to the ICGLR Humanitarian Trust Fund to help in resettling thousands of refugees that fled the crisis.Oryem called on all member states to contribute to the Fund, saying that the influx of refugees was straining the security and social services of the host countries.

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No confidence in monusco, says Ugandan foreign minister