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Envoy hails progress in UN-backed talks to halt violence in eastern DR Congo

Envoy hails progress in UN-backed talks to halt violence in eastern DR Congo

Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the DRC Alan Doss
The top United Nations official in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today welcomed progress toward a key agreement between the Congolese Government, Rwanda and a rebel militia that last year launched a devastating offensive in the eastern region of the vast central African country.

“If this accord brings a genuine cessation of hostilities between the Congolese parties, it would be a truly significant advance toward peace,” Alan Doss, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for the DRC said in a statement released today.

In the statement, Mr. Doss, who heads the UN Mission in the DRC known as MONUC, praised the decision of the leaders of the rebel group, known as the National Congress in Defense of the People (CNDP) to put an end to their rebellion

He stressed that he awaited the details of the agreements reached in the talks, which began in Nairobi last month in a bid to end the bloody conflict, which has uprooted an estimated 250,000 people since late August on top of the 800,000 who were already displaced in the region, mainly in North Kivu.

He reiterated his appeal to all parties to take into account the protection of civilians and to ensure humanitarian access to civilians in need of assistance.

In a briefing to the Security Council on 15 January, Mr. Ban’s Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region, Olusegun Obasanjo, who is facilitating the talks, reported that cooperation between DRC and Rwanda, whose troops were accused of fighting alongside the rebels, had improved after a period of deterioration late last year.

He said that DRC and Rwanda have agreed on a military plan to put pressure on the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed militia involved in clashes in North Kivu where the national army (FARDC), the CNDP, and other rebel groups such as the Mai Mai have fought in various permutations and shifting alliances.

The two sides also settled on a document establishing the ground rules for substantive discussions, slated to start later this month, and stating the desired outcome of the dialogue should incorporate the January 2008 Goma agreement.

That accord included a commitment by rebels to withdraw their troops and to either disarm or join the brassage process, whereby ex-combatants from armed groups are retrained to form part of FARDC.

In other news from the region, a UN spokesperson said today that John Holmes, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, expressed grave concern over massive human rights violations carried out in the DRC by the Ugandan-based rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), when he briefed the Security Council on Friday.

Mr. Holmes also expressed regret that LRA leader Joseph Kony had again refused to sign the peace agreement that his own delegation negotiated through the Juba Peace Talks.

In a press statement read out on Friday afternoon, the Security Council President, Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert of France, said that Council members strongly condemned recent attacks carried out by the LRA and emphasized that those responsible must be brought to justice.

Council members demanded that the members of the LRA cease all attacks on civilians immediately, and urged them to surrender, assemble, and disarm, as required by the Juba agreement, Mr. Ripert said.