EU troops need help to overcome Congo crisis

Date: 10/07/03

By David Cronin

THE EU-led force in Congo's war-torn Ituri province needs greater resources, according to a top European Commission official.

Constanza Adinolfi, head of the Commission's humanitarian office, ECHO, has just returned to Brussels from a visit to Congo and Uganda. Speaking to European Voice, she said that soldiers taking part in the EU's 1,500-troop Operation Artemis, mandated until September, had told her they needed more personnel to secure the town of Bunia.

Relief agencies have calculated that 200,000-350,000 people fled the town when fighting between Hema and Lendu militia reached a new level of ferocity in May.

Adinolfi explained the "best solution" would be if peacekeepers could "get control of all the town [of Bunia] as a matter of urgency", allowing people uprooted by the conflict - and now taking shelter in two camps - to return home.

She said that if this does not happen, the camps would have to remain in the long term. This would be "a very bad situation" due to rising disease levels in the camps.

In an interview with European Voice, Constanza Adinolfi, Head of the Commission's humanitarian office, ECHO, said the EU-led force in Congo needs greater resources.