Political committee takes heart from New York talks

The chairman of the political committee of the Lusaka agreement and Ugandan Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amama Mbabazi, on Friday expressed the committee’s appreciation for the Security Council’s meetings last week on the DRC peace process, and said it would return to the Great Lakes region “with full confidence that there would be a faster and more effective implementation of Lusaka.” Mbabazi, quoted in a UN press release, said that while there had been ceasefire violations, the Lusaka agreement had generally held since its signing in August 1999. He therefore called on the Council to expedite the deployment of UN peacekeepers “to accelerate the pace of implementation” of the agreement. Meanwhile, Tunisian representative Said Ben Mustapha told the Security Council that his country had committed itself to supplying MONUC with a troop contingent. That unit, the strength of which he did not stipulate, was ready and awaiting departure whenever the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) was ready, he said. “Hopefully, that departure would coincide with celebrations marking Congolese independence on 30 June,” Mustapha added.