Lieutenant-General Vincente Diaz de Villegas, from Spain, recently appointed to head the United Nations Military Mission in Congo (MONUC), Monday handed in his resignation in New York, US, sources close to the UN announced Tuesday. De Villegas explained that his initiative was motivated by “personal reasons”, adding that he was not in a position to fulfil his duties. In the meantime, Ghana’s Brigadier General Ishmeel Ben Quartey, will act as head of the forces until the appointment of a substantive head. According to sources, the outgoing general considered that the MONUC forces were not in a position to fulfil their mission, in the face of the sharp deterioration of the situation in eastern DRC. On 3 October, UN special representative and head of MONUC in DRC, Alan Doss, expressed the same opinion, seizing the opportunity of a briefing session at the Security Council to ask for additional means and troops for the mission. De Villepas was appointed in August to take over from Senegal’s Babacar Gaye, who returned to his country after three years at the helm of UN forces in DRC.
