Brussels, 30/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - European Union experts, entrusted with the task of assessing the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and assessing the United Nations' requirements for ensuring the elections in June unfold as they should in DRC, arrived in Kinshasa and New York on Monday. For several days, the mission under German General Heinrich Brauss, who heads the EU civil and military operations planning cell, is to meet officials of the UN mission in DRC (MONUC), the Congolese authorities and the United Nations officials in New York to assess needs on the ground. His report is expected next week and will allow the EU to decide what kind of operation it should implement with a view to the June elections, at the request of the United Nations.
Furthermore, the chairman of the European Parliament's sub-committee on defence and security, German Christian Democrat Karl von Wogau, urged on Thursday 26 January for an EU parliamentary delegation to be sent to DRC to take stock of the situation.