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Security Council delegation holds top-level talks in Uganda

Security Council delegation holds top-level talks in Uganda

A Security Council delegation visiting the Great Lakes region of Africa travelled from Rwanda to Uganda today for a series of high-level meetings in Kampala on the situation concerning the conflict in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

This morning, the Council mission met with Jean-Pierre Bemba, the leader of the Mouvement pour la libération du Congo (MLC) and a number of his top lieutenants. According to a UN spokesman, the discussions centred on working out the details of the recent announcement by Mr. Bemba that he was going to disengage his forces from the front lines. During the meeting, the MLC leader expressed his support for the recent announcement of the reopening of the Congo River to civilian traffic.

Later in the day, the Security Council delegation met for over two hours with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who said he was going to withdraw most of his forces from the DRC in the next three weeks.

The Council mission arrived in Kampala early this morning from Kigali, Rwanda, on the last leg of their trip aimed at helping to move forward the implementation of the 1999 Lusaka accord on the conflict in the DRC.