Kent Mensah, AfricaNews editor in Accra, Ghana
The UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo must stay else the former war-torn country would return to uncontrollable chaos, according to a presidential hopeful for the 2011 elections Dr Bent Francis Mboyo. He said the mission has restored peace and the national army does not have the capacity to sustain it.
“If the Kabila government thinks the UN is not doing a good job then it is a lie. They want to steal the elections and they know the presence of the UN on the ground would block their chances of stealing the general elections.
“If the UN leaves Congo right now the country would be in a situation that we were before,” the presidential candidate for the Congolese United for Change told AfricaNews from his US-base.
Last weekend the UN humanitarian head John Holmes appealed for the retention of MONUC – the UN forces operating in the country – since their departure as being mooted by the government would jeopardize their operations.
"Our preference is for MONUC to stay and for any discussions of withdrawal to be based on not an arbitrary timetable, but on the accomplishment of what MONUC is there to do.
“"We are worried by the prospect of a rapid or premature withdrawal of MONUC because MONUC is very important for our activities in the sense of providing stability, providing security for humanitarians,” Holmes said.
But the Kabila led administration argued that the national army is in a position to maintain calm in the absence of MONUC.
However, the opposition candidate has described the government’s comment as a blatant lie. Dr Mboyo recalled the role the UN mission played in securing an airport at Mbandaka in the northwest DR Congo from rebel attacks some weeks back.
He added: “There is no army in Congo… If the UN leaves Congo today there would be a big war in the country. All sorts of people would gang up against the government as rebels. Millions would be dead as it happened previously. The government wants to divide the country and we should not accept that. The UN must stay! The rebels don’t like the government because they are oppressive so if the UN leaves there would be chaos in less than a week.”
Dr Mboyo who plans to go back home soon to intensify his campaign called on Congolese to resist any attempts by some few to take the country into ransom.
“I am against rebels and I would not support them in any way. But it is important to note that people are just tired of the dictatorship regime of Kabila. Congolese should understand that the war would not bring us anywhere.”
He shared his policy on how he is going to handle the issue of rebellions in the country. “We have to discipline our armies to be neutral. My first priority is going to be security. We must flush those people from Uganda and other places who have sneaked into our armies. We must train our own soldiers to form the national army to protect the population.”
Dr Mboyo challenged the Kabila government to create an enabling environment for freedom of speech as well as give room to his opponents to campaign anywhere in the country ahead of the elections.
The UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo must stay else the former war-torn country would return to uncontrollable chaos, according to a presidential hopeful for the 2011 elections Dr Bent Francis Mboyo. He said the mission has restored peace and the national army does not have the capacity to sustain it.
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