Great Lakes: Security Council team, Lusaka ceasefire panel urge military cooperation

A delegation of the United Nations Security Council and a committee overseeing a ceasefire agreement to the conflict in the Great Lakes region of Africa have urged States in the area to work out mechanisms for military cooperation along their common borders.

In a joint statement issued following a meeting yesterday in Luanda, Angola, the 15-member Council delegation and the Political Committee to the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement urged the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi to put in place measures to promote better monitoring of the borders and facilitate the withdrawal of foreign forces from the DRC.

Stressing the need for the parties to exercise "total respect" for the provisions of the 1999 ceasefire accord, the statement also emphasized the importance of implementing disarmament and reintegration measures for ex-combatants.

Today, the Council delegation, which is undertaking an eight-nation visit to the Great Lake’s region, travelled to Kampala for a meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.