DR CONGO / CLASHES

Local residents accuse the Congolese army of looting and violence after they clashed with rebels near the Ugandan border last month. The rebels had burned houses and vehicles forcing the villagers to flee. Newly appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Roger Meece discusses the challenges facing country. MONUSCO

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:20
• Production Date: 9 August 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS OBSERVER MISSSION IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO - MONUC
• Subject Topical: POLITICAL CONDITIONS; POLITICAL MOVEMENTS; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; PEACE AND SECURITY
• Geographic Subject: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
• MAMS Id: U100809b

Description

STORY: DR CONGO / CLASHES
SOURCE: MONUSCO
TRT: 2.20
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH / ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 5 AUGUST 2010, BENI, GOMA, DR CONGO / 6 AUGUST 2010, KINSHASA, DR CONGO

Shotlist

5 AUGUST 2010, BENI, GOMA, DR CONGO

1. Wide shot, villagers with Mt. Ruwenzori in the background
2. Close shot, Mutwanga sign
3. Wide shot, kids playing
4. Various shots, burnt and damaged houses
5. Pan right, clothes
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Puluku Kiongozi, Resident of Mutwanga:
“The Army arrived around 12 am pursuing the rebels and after a few kilometers from here, they started attacking looting, pillaging, beating and injuring the population. There are many people in the hospital right now.”
7. Med shot, burnt trucks
8. Traveling shot, people walking

6 AUGUST 2010, KINSHASA, DR CONGO

9. Wide shot, press conference
10. Med shot, audience
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Roger Meece, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
“We have, I know, some immediate tasks ahead of us, some of then quite daunting, certainly important. That includes support for the elections that will be scheduled – the national elections – for late next year and beyond, for local elections.”
12. Med shot, audience
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Roger Meece, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
“It includes a police training programme that is quite important and quite large that the government has asked us to undertake, and it of course includes a number of continuing issues that all of you know very well, including major security problems, particularly in the East of the country, including capacity building generally of the institutions to permit a normally functioning state to be able to exercise its authority, provide services and generally perform the work that is expected.”
14. Wide shot, press conference

Storyline

The security situation in the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to present challenges to the newly reconfigured UN mission, tasked with protecting civilians and consolidating peace in that country.

On 27 July the Congolese army (FARDC) clashed with Ugandan rebels in the Mutwanga area - at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains - in the Beni Territory on the Ugandan border and 80 km from Goma the capital of North Kivu Province.

The rebels burned houses and vehicles forcing the villagers to flee.

The FARDC responded by fighting the rebels known as the Allied Democratic Forces and National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF- NALU ).

While pursuing, the rebels, the FARDC also looted, pillaged and beat up the local population whom they suspected of collaborating with the rebels according to one resident of Mutwanga.

SOUNDBITE (French) Puluku Kiongozi, Resident of Mutwanga:
“The Army arrived around 12 am pursuing the rebels and after a few kilometers from here, they started attacking looting, pillaging, beating and injuring the population. There are many people in the hospital right now.”

The Ugandan rebels are said to have been operating in the Beni region since 1996 and are accused of plundering Congo’s mineral resources in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.

Meanwhile, newly appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Roger Meece, offered a press conference in Kinshasa where he discussed the tasks facing the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).

SOUNDBITE (English) Roger Meece, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
“We have, I know, some immediate tasks ahead of us, some of then quite daunting, certainly important. That includes support for the elections that will be scheduled – the national elections – for late next year and beyond, for local elections.”

Next year’s elections will be the second since the end of the war of 1998-2003 which resulted in millions of deaths.

SOUNDBITE (English) Roger Meece, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
“It includes a police training programme that is quite important and quite large that the government has asked us to undertake, and it of course includes a number of continuing issues that all of you know very well, including major security problems, particularly in the East of the country, including capacity building generally of the institutions to permit a normally functioning state to be able to exercise its authority, provide services and generally perform the work that is expected.”

Meece replaced Alan Doss of the United Kingdom as Special Representative and Head of Mission on 17 July.