French troops set up Congo checkpoints

Armed tribal fighters have warily approached new checkpoints set up by French troops today in the war-torn town of Bunia in north-eastern Congo.

The soldiers are the first elements of an international force deployed to stem recent violence in the region that has killed at least 500 people.

“We have arrived in Bunia and (the checkpoints are) a demonstration of the fact that we have a wide range of options at our disposal” to deal with security threats, said force spokesman Col Gerard Dubois.

French troops are “increasing the secure perimeter around the airport, and we have started to take up what is considered as key positions, for example crossroads,” he added.

Britain is expected to send a sizeable contingent of soldiers to join the operation.

But the 1,400-strong international force, half of which will be French, will not be deployed outside Bunia – even though violence affects many other parts of resource-rich Ituri province – and its mandate does not include disarming the tribal militias.

Bunia, the provincial capital, is at the centre of fighting between the rival Hema and Lendu tribes, who both seek to control the town.

Bunia is currently controlled by the Hema, who fight under the name of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC). On Saturday, the day after a French reconnaissance team arrived, hundreds of fighters using assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns clashed on the muddy streets of the town.

The French-led multinational force with a three-month mandate from the United Nations and the European Union is supposed to reinforce some 750 UN troops. They are part of a mission to Congo to monitor a 1999 ceasefire in Congo’s nearly five-year civil war.

In an interview published today in the German newspaper Die Zeit, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana sought to parry criticism of the international force’s limited scope.

“We are not the Africa Corps – we are just fulfilling a UN mandate in this one region, and no more.

"We are supposed to secure one airport, protect two refugee camps and bring peace to the town of Bunia, and only until September. After that, the United Nations is to take care of security,” he said.