UN says committed to Congo, urges army reform

KISANGANI, Congo, Jan 28 (Reuters) New UN chief Ban Ki-Moon told Congolese President Joseph Kabila today the world body's biggest peace force would not abandon his country, but said Kinshasa must sort out its chaotic army.

On his first trip to Africa since taking over as UN secretary-general, Ban has sought to allay fears that the world body would pull its large, expensive force out of Congo after landmark elections last year to end decades of chaos and war.

''I told the president that it was not the intention of the United Nations or the international community to leave Democratic Republic of Congo to its fate,'' Ban told reporters after meeting Kabila in the eastern city of Kisangani.

''I also talked of the need to form a national republican and professional army to serve Congo (which is) indispensable to a sustainable return to peace and stability ... The country is far from having a disciplined enough army capable of protecting it, as well as its population and resources,'' he said.

The ill-disciplined and under-equipped army is gradually being reformed, bringing government troops together with fighters from rebel groups who fought in a 1998-2003 war.

But restructuring has been far from straightforward, and ethnic militias have kept on fighting in several parts of the country's east, far from the central government in Kinshasa.

UN peacekeepers backed by helicopter gunships have stepped in to help bring the eastern militias under control, but the Congolese army has run away from some operations.

Senior officers have taken food and money meant for the troops -- foreign military experts said last year some soldiers had died of starvation in army camps -- and human rights campaigners accuse soldiers of massacres and other atrocities.

Some divisions of the army have yet to be restructured, and remain loyal to local former warlords across a country the size of Western Europe.

Renegade Rwandaphone army general Laurent Nkunda agreed just over a week ago the two brigades he led in a rebellion in the lawless North Kivu province should rejoin the army.

But he clinched a special deal for them to remain in the area, rather than redeploying to other parts of Congo as other rebel groups have.

REUTERS SP RAI2020