EU troops set up base in DRC for election mission

KINSHASA – European soldiers were putting the finishing touches to an impromptu headquarters in Congo’s chaotic capital Kinshasa on Monday while Germany’s defence minister toured the base ahead of elections.

Most of the European force charged with helping police the polls on July 30 – the first of their kind in Democratic Republic of Congo in over 40 years – have arrived, with soldiers from Germany, France, Belgium and Poland in place. The 800-man mission is due to be up and running by election day and has a four-month mandate to ensure none of the contenders in the presidential and parliamentary polls tries to disrupt the process.”We will be completely neutral and we will not be taking anybody’s side,” German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said during a visit to Kinshasa which included meeting senior Congolese officials and visiting German soldiers at their base.The polls are meant to draw a line under a 1998-2003 war which sucked in neighbouring countries and killed millions of people, many from hunger and disease caused by the conflict.But tensions are running high, with a main opposition party boycotting the vote, other parties arguing over logistics such as access to the media, and festering violence by rebels and renegade militia groups in the remote east.Heavily-armed Polish military police patrolled the EU base at N’dolo airport, in the middle of the crumbling capital, as French soldiers set up satellite dishes alongside an air strip used by internal Congolese airlines.Belgian soldiers chopped wood to put the finishing touches to rows of beige air-conditioned tents and Congolese workers welded a new roof onto a hangar that will be used by the force.The EU soldiers will be backed by some 1 200 reinforcements positioned in nearby Gabon.EU force spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Fuss said 600 soldiers from the Congo-based contingent had already arrived.The force has tried to overcome distrust among some Congolese, by stressing it would do more than rescue expatriates if violence broke out and has made clear it is not in the former Belgian colony to back incumbent President Joseph Kabila.There are 32 challengers for Kabila’s job and nearly 10 000 people have joined the race for 500 seats in parliament.The international community spends over US$1 billion every year on the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo and is investing over US$400 million in the electoral process.- Nampa-ReutersThe 800-man mission is due to be up and running by election day and has a four-month mandate to ensure none of the contenders in the presidential and parliamentary polls tries to disrupt the process.”We will be completely neutral and we will not be taking anybody’s side,” German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said during a visit to Kinshasa which included meeting senior Congolese officials and visiting German soldiers at their base.The polls are meant to draw a line under a 1998-2003 war which sucked in neighbouring countries and killed millions of people, many from hunger and disease caused by the conflict.But tensions are running high, with a main opposition party boycotting the vote, other parties arguing over logistics such as access to the media, and festering violence by rebels and renegade militia groups in the remote east.Heavily-armed Polish military police patrolled the EU base at N’dolo airport, in the middle of the crumbling capital, as French soldiers set up satellite dishes alongside an air strip used by internal Congolese airlines.Belgian soldiers chopped wood to put the finishing touches to rows of beige air-conditioned tents and Congolese workers welded a new roof onto a hangar that will be used by the force.The EU soldiers will be backed by some 1 200 reinforcements positioned in nearby Gabon.EU force spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Fuss said 600 soldiers from the Congo-based contingent had already arrived.The force has tried to overcome distrust among some Congolese, by stressing it would do more than rescue expatriates if violence broke out and has made clear it is not in the former Belgian colony to back incumbent President Joseph Kabila.There are 32 challengers for Kabila’s job and nearly 10 000 people have joined the race for 500 seats in parliament.The international community spends over US$1 billion every year on the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo and is investing over US$400 million in the electoral process.- Nampa-Reuters