Higher levels of security is needed in eastern DRC: UN

UNITED NATIONS - The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) is working with local Congolese security forces to increase its level of security to enhance civilian protection and check the "increasing level of violence" in Goma in the eastern part of the country, a UN spokesman said here Friday.

The Goma security plan is a detailed one developed by the Provincial Security team which has drawn together from the Congolese Armed Forces, the Congolese National Police, and MONUSCO, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told a daily briefing here.

"The plan includes the intensification of day and night patrols, the deployment of security check points on major routes around the city and the establishment of a crisis center," he said.

The Congolese Armed Forces (CAF) and the Congolese National Police (CNP) are staffing check points and MONUSCO has increased its level of patrolling and security activities, because of increased instability.

Late last month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made an urgent call for peaceful resolution in the eastern DRC because of the deeply disturbing reports that confirmed the human rights violations by the rebel group M23.

The M23 rebels have used "forcible recruitment of hundreds of children who are being used as combatants and sex slaves and, in some instances, killed," the secretary-general said in a high level briefing on the Eastern DRC.

The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) is continuing efforts to carry out the Pact on Security, Stability, and Development as well as locate the armed group in Eastern DRC.