DR Congo: UN envoy urges return to peace process after recent clashes

The top United Nations envoy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has joined a group of international officials in calling for stepped-up efforts to restore peace to the country’s volatile eastern region, the scene of recent fighting between the Government and rebel groups.

Alan Doss, along with representatives of the members of the Security Council, the African Union and the European Union, met with President Joseph Kabila yesterday in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, where clashes broke out on 28 August between the country’s armed forces (FARDC) and the National Congress for People’s Defense, known by its French acronym CNDP.

The recent hostilities were some of the worst in over a year and a violation of the Actes d’engagement signed by the parties in January this year.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr. Doss – the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUC) – said the participants all agreed on the need to revive the Amani programme, set up to implement the January peace deal.

The participants also stressed that a disengagement plan be presented as soon as possible and that practical steps be taken for the safe return of displaced people, according to a news release issued by MONUC.

They also agreed that the CNDP, headed by renegade general Laurent Nkunda, be brought back into the Amani programme.

Meanwhile, MONUC reported today that the situation in both North and South Kivu remained “relatively calm” and UN forces are continuing to follow the withdrawal of CNDP troops from all occupied positions since the resumption of the fighting.