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Security Council welcomes progress in inter-Congolese dialogue

Security Council welcomes progress in inter-Congolese dialogue

Council President Amb. Sergey Lavrov
Members of the United Nations Security Council today welcomed the significant progress made in the formal talks between the parties to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The political agreement reached at the just concluded inter-Congolese dialogue between the Government and the Mouvement de Libération du Congo, or MLC, to which a majority of the participants are parties, could facilitate the political transition and help to consolidate the regional peace process in the country, said the current President of the 15-member security body, Ambassador Sergey Lavrov of the Russian Federation, in a press statement released after closed-door consultations.

Council members noted that some participants in the dialogue, which ended in Sun City, South Africa, on 19 April, in particular the Congolese Rally for Democracy, or RCD, had declined to be parties to the accord. The statement stressed that "this disagreement threatens the hopes of peace that emerged in Sun City."

In that connection, Council members called on all the Congolese parties to continue their negotiations and to join in the political process that has just been launched, as well as to refrain from any action likely to hinder that process or lead to a resumption of hostilities.

Council members also urged all the States signatories to the Lusaka Agreement and the countries of the region "to respect and support the desire for unity, democracy and peace which the Congolese have unambiguously expressed at Sun City."