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DR of Congo: Security Council urges all forces to withdraw to agreed positions

DR of Congo: Security Council urges all forces to withdraw to agreed positions

Concerned over the status of the disengagement process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), members of the Security Council today called for the urgent pull-back of all forces in the country to agreed positions.

The President of the Security Council, Ambassador Wang Yingfan of China, said in a press statement that the body's members were concerned to learn that the DRC Government maintained positions beyond the disengagement line, that the Front de libération du Congo (FLC) had not yet completed its commitment to withdraw its forces to agreed positions, while the Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie (RCD) has failed to disengage Kisangani and had disrupted the activities of the UN Mission in the DRC, (MONUC).

"Members of the Security Council called on all forces to withdraw to agreed upon positions as a matter of urgency," the statement said. It also expressed the Council's hope that the issue could be addressed through the institutions established through the Lusaka ceasefire agreement "and that all the parties to the Lusaka agreement will honour the commitments they have made to each other and the international community."

Council members also voiced concern at "the threat to the peace process" posed by activities of groups such as the former Rwandan Army (ex-FAR), Interahamwe, and the Front pour la défense de la démocratie (FDD). All parties, including the Government, were reminded that under UN Security Council resolutions they were to "cease immediately all support to such groups."

The statement called on all parties to demonstrate full commitment to disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, and to the disengagement withdrawal process, by ending all forms of support to the armed groups, by providing full information to MONUC, and by resolving any discrepancies between actual positions and those set out in the agreed disengagement plan.