Fresh ceasefire orders issued by all parties

The UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) has confirmed that all parties to last year's Lusaka peace agreement - including the rebels - had now issued new ceasefire orders to their troops, a mission spokesman told IRIN on Wednesday. The belligerents last week agreed to the new ceasefire plan, which came into effect on 14 April. The spokesman said that, contrary to media reports, "it is MONUC's assessment that the ceasefire is generally effective". Skirmishes between government forces and the rebel Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) had been reported on 14 April in three locations, but the situation in those areas was now assessed as quiet, he said. Meanwhile, an official from the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) in Goma confirmed on Monday that fighting along the ceasefire line had stopped, the MONUC spokesman said. "MONUC is now working with the parties for detailed disengagement plans for each area of
the confrontation line," he said. "The general tenor is optimistic," he added.