A United Nations reconnaissance team today
visited one of the four bases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
where the UN plans to deploy 500 military observers.
A UN spokesman said today in New York
that the 12-strong team had traveled in two aircraft to the southern central
town of Mbuji Mayi.
The assessment effort comes on the heels of the visit to the country of the head of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations Bernard Miyet, whose talks with President Laurent Kabila had resulted in an agreement "in principle" for UN reconnaissance teams to begin a series of missions this week.
Mr. Miyet, who is now in the Rwandan capital Kigali, is continuing his visit to the region to "seek support for and assess if conditions for the deployment of the 5,500-strong military observer force exist," the UN spokesman said.