BBCNews: United Nations Libya plans 'revealed in report'

BBC News, United NationsBy Barbara Plett @ BBC NEWS

A document which appears to outline UN plans for post-conflict Libya calls for up to 200 military observers and 190 UN police to help stabilise the country.

The website Inner City Press, which follows UN affairs, published the report which it said had been leaked.

It was apparently written by a special team assigned by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to draw up recommendations for the UN's new role in Libya.

However, the UN has not confirmed its authenticity.

The report appears to be an internal planning document that could serve as the basis for a new UN mandate in Libya.

It suggests a UN mission with a core staff of 61 civilians, for an initial three month period, to help Libyan rebels organise a peaceful transition to democracy.

'Nato presence'

Beyond that, it recommends the deployment of up to 200 unarmed military observers - principally to monitor the process of dealing with forces loyal to fugitive leader Col Muammar Gaddafi - as well as up to 190 UN police officers to help train local forces.

All of this would be implemented only if requested by the Libyan transitional authorities and approved by the UN Security Council.

The document says it would be beyond the UN's capacity to deal with any major destabilisation in Tripoli.

In such a case, it says, Nato would continue to play a role because its UN mandate to protect civilians does not end with the collapse of the Gaddafi regime.

The report also details how the UN could support the establishment of an inclusive and legitimate interim government, and help it prepare for the election of a provisional national congress to draft a constitution in the next six to nine months.

North Korea arms to Africa: Unusual only because illegal

The recently reported seizure of a North Korean arms shipment supposedly intended for Congo-Brazzaville highlights the continuing flow of weapons into African conflict zones from multiple sources.

Last week, South Africa reported to the United Nations that it had intercepted concealed North Korean military cargo in November.

The shipment, it said, violated a UN arms embargo and may have been made in collusion with China.

But larger-scale military transfers to unstable African states by other suppliers, including the United States, are regularly carried out without notice by the world press.

The T-54 and T-55 tank parts seized by South African authorities in Durban originated in North Korea.

They had been loaded onto a container ship in the Chinese port of Dalian.

China says it is investigating the shipment, which violates a UN ban on military exports by North Korea.

The war material, listed on a manifest as “spare parts of bulldozer,” had been hidden behind sacks of rice carried on a French-owned vessel.

A bill of lading indicated that the cargo was bound for Pointe Noire in Congo-Brazzaville, an oil-producing country that borders the much larger Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

There is reason to suspect that the estimated $770,000 worth of North Korean military equipment was actually destined for the DRC, which is known to have T-55 tanks in its arsenal.

Episodes of unrest

The US embassy in Congo-Brazzaville says in a posting on its website that “there have been no serious episodes of unrest or violence since the March 2003 peace accord” that put an end to a civil war in the country. And a UN report released in December found that both North Korea and China had shipped weapons to the DRC’s army.

A group of UN experts indicated in the report that a North Korean ship, the Bi Ro Bong, had delivered more than 3400 tonnes of weapons to the DRC military in January 2009 through Boma Port.

The UN group also reported that North Korean military personnel had trained DRC troops in Kinshasha in May 2009.

The US and North Korea may be radically unlike, but when it comes to training Congolese forces, the two have identical aims.

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