KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, March 4 (UPI) -- The United Nations announced plans to deploy additional peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to try to head off a recent escalation of violence.
The top U.N. official in the region, Alan Doss, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special representative, is calling for restraint after recent outbursts of violence in the DR Congo's western Bas-Congo province. Seven people were killed and a dozen more were injured recently in clashes.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the region, MONUC, estimates that 70 people have been killed in Bas Congo province over the last month following disputed local elections, the United Nations reported.
Officials say the worst of the violence has been in the country's eastern provinces of North and South Kivu. The U.N. reports that "at least 30 people were killed by militia members using firearms, machetes and hammers in several coordinated attacks near Kalonge in North Kivu. ... (And) 31 children are among a group of 79 detainees transferred from Goma to the capital Kinshasa for interrogation by the Congolese military on suspicions of spying and treason," the release said.
Despite the most recent violence, officials are hoping the recent peace conference in Goma is cause for some optimism.
