17/07/13 Pana: DR Congo: UN peacekeepers on 'high alert' as M23 rebels advance towards Goma

The PANA correspondent in New York, quoting the statement, reported that the UN
Organization Stabilization Mission in Congo (MONUSCO) expressed 'deep concern”
about the latest bout of fighting which broke out after a significant group of
the M23 attacked the national forces (FARDC) on 14 July in Mutaho, eight
kilometres northwest of Goma, in eastern DRC.

According to the Mission,
heavy artillery and a battle tank were used in the attack.

It stated that any attempt by the M23 to advance toward Goma would be
considered a direct threat to civilians.

'The UN blue helmets stand ready to take any necessary measures, including the
use of lethal force, in order to protect civilians.'

The acting Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in the DRC, Mr.
Moustapha Soumare, urged restraint to avoid a further escalation of the
situation.

'I call on all to abide by the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework Agreement
and to allow the political process towards peace to move forward,” Mr. Soumare
said.

The Framework Agreement brokered by the UN was adopted in February with the
support of 11 nations and four international organisations (11 4), with the aim
of ending the cycles of conflict and crisis in the eastern DRC and to build
peace in the long-troubled Great Lakes region.

The UN envoy also called on all signatories of the agreement to exercise their
influence in order to avoid an escalation of the situation.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Ms. Mary Robinson, the UN Special
Envoy for Africa's Great Lakes Region, along with World Bank President Jim Yong
Kim, visited the DRC in May to bolster support for the Framework which Ms.
Robinson dubbed a 'framework for hope'.

Last month, there was talk of a possible resumption of peace talks between the
DRC government and the M23.

At that time, Mrs. Robinson had urged both sides to engage in earnest
discussion under the auspices of the Chairperson of the International
Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Ugandan President Yoweri
Museveni.

The UN special envoy had convened in Burundi
last week a conference to help develop a road map for women's engagement in
efforts to bring peace to Africa's long-trouble Great
Lakes countries.

Since March, tensions in the region have been heightened, leading to the UN
Security Council to authorise in March the deployment of an intervention
brigade within MONUSCO to carry out targeted offensive operations, with or without
FARDC, against armed groups that threaten peace in eastern DRC.