http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...ANN/TPNational/
Canada may send transport planes to help in Congo
By JEFF SALLOT
With reports from Daniel Leblanc and Agence France-Presse
UPDATED AT 1:04 PM EDT Friday, May. 23, 2003
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OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Jean Chrétien says Canada has a moral obligation to help defuse the Congo crisis, but Ottawa can make only a modest military contribution to a proposed peacekeeping mission.
That contribution may be two military transport planes, Defence Minister John McCallum said.
The continuing ethnic violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo was a major topic during talks yesterday between Mr. Chrétien and visiting French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.
France is calling for a strengthened United Nations peacekeeping force in the war-ravaged African nation and already has a military reconnaissance team on the ground in remote Ituri province where at least 310 people have been killed in recent fighting.
"Under the UN we are prepared to set up an international force" to try to bring peace, Mr. Raffarin said at a news conference.
France has promised up to 1,000 combat soldiers if other countries join the mission.
Mr. Raffarin noted there are many technical problems making it difficult to get military forces and supplies in and out of the affected area in northeastern Congo.
Mr. McCallum said Canada is considering equipping the UN mission with two C-130 military transport planes to ferry troops and supplies from France to the conflict zone in Congo.
The C-130 can land on short, rough airstrips like those in remote areas of Africa.
Some military analysts, including retired general Roméo Dallaire, who commanded the ill-fated UN mission in neighbouring Rwanda in 1994, say Canada should send ground troops to Congo even if that means pulling soldiers out of missions elsewhere to send them to Africa.
Mr. Chrétien appeared sympathetic to the idea, saying, "We have problems all over the world and Africa is always neglected."
Asked why he would even consider taking on a new commitment in Congo when the Canadian Forces are already stretched thin, Mr. Chrétien said, "We have an obligation. It is a very sad situation in Congo."
He acknowledged that any Canadian contribution to a UN force "will be a small contribution."
Canada is "prepared to participate under the aegis of the UN" and would collaborate with France, he said.
Mr. Chrétien did not indicate when he might make a final decision on what Canada can offer the mission.
Germany pledged it would help finance a UN mission, but Berlin did not say whether it would send troops.
The UN has about 700 peacekeepers in the region, but their mandate and numbers are not sufficient to contain the violence.
French and Canadian diplomats have been discussing the Congo crisis for several months. Raymond Chrétien, Canada‘s ambassador to Paris and the Prime Minister‘s nephew, is the former UN special envoy for that part of the world and was a key figure in Ottawa‘s decision in 1996 to lead a UN mission to help Rwandan refugees.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed this month to member countries to contribute troops to a much more robust mission for Ituri, where more than 50,000 have been killed in the past four years.
More than 350,000 civilians have been forced to flee for their lives since the newest wave of bloodshed swept across the region this month.
Mr. Chrétien and Mr. Raffarin said they were pleased the UN is going to play an important role in the reconstruction of Iraq following the Security Council decision yesterday to formally lift economic sanctions.
Mr. Chrétien said others will have to judge whether Washington‘s justification for invading Iraq -- the elimination of weapons of mass destruction -- is valid.
U.S. troops haven‘t found those weapons yet, Mr. Chrétien noted, saying he had argued for more time for UN weapons inspectors to do their work.
