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KINSHASA, Jan 27 (AFP) - Zaire agreed on Friday to deploy a 1500-strong force to tighten security in the sprawling Rwandan refugee camps of eastern Zaire and assist UN aid officials in carrying out their mandate there.
Zaire undertook to send the troops, security agents and police to the camps at Bukavu and Goma, home to more than a million refugees.
The deal was signed here between United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) special representative, Carol Faubert, and the Zairean deputy defence and justice ministers, Admiral Mavua Mudima and Gerard Kamanga Wa Kamanga.
Aid agencies have accused Zaire of allowing Hutu supremacist militias ousted from Rwanda last year to hold sway over the more than a million refugees sheltering in the camps.
The new force will be tasked with restoring public order in the Rwandan refugee camps to put an end to violence and intimidation against those who want to return to their homes, and provide escorts for convoys of returning refugees.
The first phase of the project, from February to June, will cost an estimated 13 million dollars.
Two-thirds of the force are to be deployed in the Goma region, which is sheltering more than 800,000 refugees, compared to the estimated 200,000 to 300,000 in Bukavu, where the rest of the force will patrol.
The deal with Zaire was pursued after the United Nations abandoned the idea of deploying a multinational force to maintain order in the camps, where tensions are still high.
However, aid agencies say the tension is confined to certain sectors and does not threaten humanitarian work elsewhere in the camps.
mf/db/jms AFP AFP
