Zambia to send troops to Sierra Leone, eyes Congo
LUSAKA: Zambian President Frederick Chiluba has committed 800 peacekeepers
to Sierra Leone and said his country would welcome a role in policing the
ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Returning from a regional conference in Egypt late on Tuesday, Chiluba told
reporters that Zambia had been formally asked to contribute 800 soldiers to
the peacekeeping effort in Sierra Leone and they would head there in the
coming weeks.
Chiluba said Zambia anticipated a call-up for its troops for service in
President Laurent Kabila's Congo, where he brokered a peace pact last year.
Ceasefire protocols within that agreement, however, have been repeatedly
violated in recent months.
"We will contribute 800 troops to the peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone
at the request of the United Nations," Chiluba said. "We will also be
contributing troops to the Congo. Basically, we are a peacekeeping nation."
The United Nations has a 6,000-strong peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone
where a ceasefire agreed between government and rebel forces is frequently
violated.
Last week, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution to send an initial
observer force of 5,500 to monitor the ceasefire in the Congo. Zambia was
not in the initial list of countries expected to contribute troops to the
force.
The U.N. has sought and received security guarantees for its personnel in
the Congo, but African leaders say if they could actually guarantee peace in
Africa's third largest nation, then there would be no need for U.N.
officials in the first place.
Senior regional military analysts also say the figure of 5,500 is just too
small, and envisage the United Nations agreeing to the deployment of more
troops once it was evident that those already serving were making some
progress.
Congo's civil war has drawn troops from Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe in
support of Kabila against splintered rebel groups backed by Rwanda and
Uganda.
The governments involved in the war signed an accord brokered by Chiluba
last July and rebel leaders endorsed it in August. But fighting has
nevertheless continued, and the war has cost thousands of life and uprooted
a million people.
A summit on the Congo in Zambia last week endorsed a revised calendar for
the implementation of the Lusaka peace accord, and made March 1 the date for
the commencement of activities under the pact. (Reuters)
For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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