31 December 2007
A new military operations centre for the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) - built by United Nations peacekeepers - has been inaugurated in Goma, the capital of the troubled North Kivu province in the east of the country.
In the span of one month, peacekeepers from the UN mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, turned a simple room into a functional, air-conditioned operations centre, which is equipped with updated maps on sliding boards, a computer and video projection system, and a conference area.
At the inauguration ceremony on 29 December, General Mayala of the DRC's armed forces (FARDC) said that the new centre is "the most modern in the DRC."
Also in attendance at the launch, MONUC's North Kivu commander, General Narayan, told officers from FARDC - which financed the centre's rebuilding - that MONUC aims to help the national army restore peace and establish State authority in that part of the vast Central African nation.
MONUC currently has 18,407 total uniformed personnel - including 16,661 troops, 735 military observers, 1,011 police, 931 international civilian personnel, 2,062 local civilian staff and 585 UN Volunteers.
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This shows for what MONUC is good in Congo. Military instead of peace and bread. Supporting such bloodhound like Kabila junior is the same as in Sebrenica, when UN watched Mladic butchering innocent people. The same happens again in Congo and Israel. Dag Hammarsköld died because he really wanted peace. With Kofi such things as now would not have happened. S.